For 75 years, Levinson Axelrod grows with community

For 75 years, the personal injury law firm of Levinson Alexrod has strived to live up to its motto, "Your Neighbors. Your Lawyers."

The firm has grown and evolved alongside the people of New Jersey, staff members said.

Founded by two attorneys in Perth Amboy mainly to help the workers of nine surrounding factories, Levinson Axelrod has grown to eight offices throughout the state with attorneys from all walks of life, backgrounds and varying interests, said Adam Toris, whose grandfather was a president of a union whose members the firm represented.

"Our attorneys use their special backgrounds and skills to better help our clients," Toris said. "Many of them decided to become attorneys due to their own personal experiences and a desire to help others."

Rich Marcolus, a partner in the firm's office in the Belford section of Middletown, paid his way through law school as a union carpenter. Still a union member today, Marcolus is one of the state's top workers' compensation attorneys, often representing other union members.

The son of a union carpenter, Marcolus said he grew up in a blue-collar household, going to union meetings.

"I was seeing first-hand how hard they worked to make a living and the conditions they worked in," he said. "As a workers' compensation attorney, I can empathize and identify with the struggle these workers are going through, because I've been there myself and that makes me work even harder to get them the help they need."

Rosemary McGeady brings a similar passion for medical malpractice to the firm's Edison headquarters.

McGeady had a 20-year career as a cardiologist before priorities of motherhood made her want to switch careers and better manage her time.

"My father was an attorney," she said, "and he was quite an inspiration to me growing up. When I was at the point where I needed to decide about graduate school, I was torn between whether to go into medicine or law.

"During my first year in law school in 2002, I heard a commercial for Levinson Axelrod, and I called them up and asked if they could use a part-time law clerk who happened to be a doctor," McGeady continued. "My expertise comes in when someone calls in with a complicated medical story, and they're frightened.

"They're in a hospital or a loved one is in a nursing home. They don't understand the process, what's going on. I can give them some insight, and I can help them understand if what they're experiencing and what has happened to them is medical malpractice or is it something that is unavoidable. I find the fact that I'm a woman physician makes a lot of our female clients more comfortable talking to me about their situation."

Brett Greiner is an avid motorcycle rider and knows firsthand about the dangers involved. Literally a neighbor of the firm, Greiner grew up in the Edison area, a stone's throw from the Route 27 headquarters.

Partner Kim Gozsa and associates Kathleen DiGiovanni and Celine Vitale are three of the small number of women attorneys dealing with personal injury cases in New Jersey, Toris said. Gozsa became an attorney after experiencing discrimination as a female, he said.

Army veteran Robert Cook said he also can relate to people's pain.

"For me, making the transition from being in the Army to representing people injured in accidents made sense," said Cook, whose brother, David, also represents the firm. "My years in the military left me feeling an obligation to help people in need. Being injured is painful enough, but having someone fighting on your side and leading you through the process helps make a difficult situation much easier to get through. I find it especially rewarding when I am able to help a fellow veteran due to the bond we have from our shared experiences and because I have the utmost respect for their service."

Beyond pro bono

With offices also in Brick, Flemington, Hillsborough, Howell, Forked River and Jamesburg, the firm has worked with several local charities, including:

•Somerville-based FISH Hospitality Program, a volunteer agency that delivers food and provides children's clothing and financial assistance to homeless families and single women in Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties.

•Vetworks, a nonprofit veterans' organization in Forked River that feeds more than 300 needy families, singles moms and veterans monthly.

•Electronic Access (e-access.org), an all-volunteer Hillsborough group that collects, refurbishes and donates used business and personal computers to other nonprofits and the needy from New Jersey to Africa and Brazil.

Each year, Levinson Axelrod sponsors a Thanksgiving dinner and gives Christmas gift bags to residents of the Middlesex County Youth Shelter in North Brunswick. The bags include snacks, treats, games, toys, a $25 Walmart gift certificate and a bath towel, said Kathy Telepun, an administrative assistant for the firm who spearheads the annual holiday giving to the 24-bed shelter. The firm also has donated a flat-screen TV, a computer, an Xbox, a Sony PlayStation and quilts to the court-ordered temporary home for teens.

"I'm happy to say there's never been 24 who are there for the holiday," said Telepun, who has received community awards with the firm for their charity efforts. "I always have to go by the max because, God forbid, they do have a full house. But the gift bags work because there's always a kid coming here or there, and they feel like they're celebrating Christmas again."

Despite being wiped out by superstorm Sandy, the firm's Belford office collected more than 200 food items at a grand reopening in September. The donations went to the Red Bank-based Lunch Break nonprofit and were followed in December with a firmwide holiday food drive for FISH, Vetworks and other charities.

In honor of the lauded college soccer of David Wheaton, the firm's secretary, treasurer and star of its popular commercials, Levinson Axelrod sponsors the Manalapan Soccer Club's statewide Memorial Day tournament.

With the firm since 1968, Wheaton said that each of the firm's offices does a free review of neighbors' difficult-to-understand automobile insurance policies, regardless of whether they are a client or not. The firm also offers free legal seminars, he said.

"As the years went by, we saw our traditional clients from Middlesex County moving west and south," Wheaton said. "Life becomes more local every year. They want their supermarket, hospital and good schools near where they live. We decided that we would move with them … that we would provide them with a local office.

"But these offices never should be considered satellite offices," he continued. "They're staffed by partners of the law firm who are certified civil trial lawyers. Each office is a full-service operation. At least 80 percent of the people who staff those offices live in those communities. We live in the communities where we work, and our kids go to the same schools. It gives you a great advantage because you become so familiar with the courts and judges in those communities, which is always nice. It's been just a tremendous organization to work for and to see the growth. We certainly thank all of our clients who helped us make it worthwhile."

For more information about Levinson Axelrod and its staff of attorneys often recognized by colleagues and adversaries by being named to the annual "Best Lawyers in America" and "Super Lawyers" publications, visit www.njlawyers.com.

Staff Writer Bob Makin: 732-565-7319; bmakin@MyCentralJersey.com