As a business lawyer, Gianfranco A. ("Franco") Pietrafesa represents clients in corporate, commercial and employment matters, including the formation of businesses, the preparation of shareholder, limited liability company, partnership and employment agreements, and the purchase, sale, merger and acquisition of businesses. He also represents clients in the purchase and sale of commercial real estate, leasing, and commercial mortgage lending.
Franco is a director of the Business Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a member of the Inn of Transactional Counsel (Essex-Morris). He is listed among The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Corporate Law. He has also taught corporate law at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
As a litigator, he has experience in both the trial and appellate courts. His litigation practice is focused primarily on business, corporate and commercial matters, such as breach of contract, business torts, and business owner disputes, as well as employment, real estate and land use matters.
Franco is the author of many articles on litigation and corporate matters that have appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal and New Jersey Lawyer Magazine. He is a contributing author, on the subject of drafting complaints, to New Jersey Federal Civil Procedure 2d, and was a contributing author on the subject of trial evidence to the first edition of the book, published by New Jersey Law Journal Books. He is also the author of the post trial motions chapter in Trial Tactics Defense Litigation Manual, published by the Defense Research Institute. He also serves on the Editorial Board of New Jersey Lawyer Magazine.
Prior to entering private practice, Franco served as a Law Secretary to the late Nicholas G. Mandak, the Assignment Judge for the Passaic County Vicinage of the Superior Court of New Jersey, in Paterson.
In 2002, he was recognized by the New Jersey Law Journal as one of 40 outstanding attorneys under the age of 40.
He is also a member of the Hawthorne Board of Education and has served as its Vice President. He also served as General Counsel to the St. Anthony Education Foundation, and the Hawthorne Education Foundation, New Jersey Nonprofit Corporations.