Mary Frances Palisano

New Jersey

Gibbons P.C.
One Gateway Center
Newark, NJ 07102
United States

Tel: 973 596 4553

Email: mpalisano@gibbonslaw.com
Web: www.gibbonslaw.com

Professional Biography

Mary Palisano is a Director in the Newark, NJ office of Gibbons PC. A tenacious advocate and trusted legal advisor, Ms. Palisano understands how stressful it is for a client to be accused of a crime or for a family whose child has a legal issue. Ms. Palisano is an experienced litigator who focuses her practice on criminal defense, juvenile proceedings, school discipline matters, and special education.

Ms. Palisano has extensive experience in a broad range of criminal defense matters in New Jersey and New York, including, but not limited to, state charges, federal crimes, and municipal court offenses. Ms. Palisano has been successful in obtaining dismissals and non-prosecutions for her clients. In some cases, she was able to convince the prosecution not to prosecute the case, in other instances she was able to obtain dismissals or gain her clients entry into the Pretrial Intervention program (PTI), which resulted in dismissal of matters upon the completion of the program.

Ms. Palisano began her legal career handling criminal cases in the trial division of the Legal Aid Society and has been practicing in the area of criminal defense for nearly 20 years. She is a vigorous protector of her clients’ rights, and her clients benefit from her unique, out-of-the-box thinking that comes only from experience. Ms. Palisano’s criminal defense practice includes counseling clients in all phases of criminal proceedings and quasi-criminal matters, including state charges, federal crimes, juvenile proceedings, internal investigations, and municipal court matters.

In the area of child advocacy, Ms. Palisano advocates for children with special needs so that they can obtain the education they need and have a right to receive, providing legal advice related to Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and accommodations, attending meetings with the child study teams, enforcing and revising IEPs, obtaining 504 plans, and handling mediation and due process hearings, among other services. With the right strategies and negotiation, many special education cases can be settled through conferences or mediation, but if needed, Ms. Palisano vigorously defends the rights of her clients through litigation. Ms. Palisano also provides representation when children are threatened with disciplinary action or are victims of students’ behavior.

Additionally, Ms. Palisano handles numerous pro bono cases throughout the year, including cases involving victims of domestic violence, children with special needs, and expungement matters. Ms. Palisano also participates in internship programs where she speaks to high school students about the legal profession, pro bono work, and her practice areas.

  • State v. Client: Representation of an individual accused of burglary for allegedly assaulting a taxi cab driver and not paying his fare. Ms. Palisano successfully obtained Pretrial Intervention for the client (which results in a dismissal of the matter upon completion of the program), despite adamant opposition from the State.
  • State v. Client: Representation of an individual falsely accused of assault relating to his employment. After extensive discussions with the prosecution, Ms. Palisano secured the dismissal of the case.
  • People v. Client: Representation of an individual charged with using a fake identification and resisting arrest in New York. Due to the arrest, the client could have lost a job opportunity at a bank. Ms. Palisano successfully persuaded the prosecution to dismiss the case, and thereby relieved our client of the inability to work in the financial services industry. As a result, the case has now been sealed. She also represented the client in the related FDIC investigation in order to clear his name to ensure that he is eligible for future employment at FDIC insured banks.
  • In re Subpoena: Representation of a real estate developer whose employee was accused of wrongdoing related to alleged illegal business activities and fraud being investigated by a New Jersey county prosecutor’s office. Ms. Palisano assisted the client with responding to the State’s numerous subpoenas relating to the criminal investigation of the employee and worked with the attorneys defending the employee’s criminal and related bankruptcy matters to work out a civil settlement, because her client did not want his employee to be criminally charged; such allegations would not only reflect poorly on the employee, but would likely have a significant negative impact on her client’s business. Ultimately, the employee was not criminally charged, and there was a civil resolution between the parties.
  • State v. Client: Representation of an individual charged with assaulting two police officers, among other offenses. The client was an Ivy League graduate student, and a conviction would have likely resulted in his removal from the graduate program at his school. The charges were downgraded from indictable offenses to disorderly persons charges. After negotiating with the prosecutor and convincing the injured police officers as well, Ms. Palisano successfully obtained a plea to a single local ordinance (a non-criminal charge), which will not affect the client’s standing at school.
  • State v. Client: Representation of an individual charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance after she called 911 to assist a friend who was overdosing on drugs. Ms. Palisano successfully convinced the prosecution that the charges against her client should be dismissed based on legislation then pending the approval of the governor, which would have given immunity to those who assist others in overdose situations. After Ms. Palisano convinced the State to dismiss the charges against her client (with some community service) and also persuaded the court to accept the plea, the case was dismissed.
  • State v. Client: Representation of an individual seeking to be removed from Megan’s Law. After Ms. Palisano filed a motion based on a legal issue, the client was removed from Megan’s Law.

  • Supreme Court (NJ) Committee on Model Criminal Jury Charges, 2011-2013, 2013-2015, 2015-2017 terms
  • Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey
    Trustee (2017, 2018)
    Co-Chair, Legislative Committee (2015, 2016)
  • New Jersey State Bar Association
    Criminal Law Section (Member and Past Chair)
    Continuing Legal Education Advisory Committee
    Pro Bono Committee
    School Law Committee
    Editorial Board, New Jersey Lawyer Magazine
  • Volunteer Lawyers for Justice
    Trustee
  • New Jersey Women Lawyers Association
  • Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey
  • National Association of Women Lawyers
    Planning Committee member and Co-Chair, Annual Meeting Program Book Committee (2012, 2013)
  • Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc.
  • New Jersey Special Education Practitioners (NJSEP)

With offices in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, DC, and Florida, Gibbons has been recognized nationally for its work, as well as regionally. The New Jersey Law Journal has included Gibbons in the “Litigation Practice of the Year” program five times in recent years, in the labor and employment, class action, products liability, and commercial litigation categories and with the overall “General Litigation Practice of the Year” designation. The firm has been certified as a great workplace by the independent analysts at the Great Place to Work® organization.

Our business model is focused on offering high quality, cost-effective legal services, handling major matters for mid-market companies (with annual revenues of $100 million to $2.5 billion) and mid-market matters for Fortune 500 companies, notably in the Mid-Atlantic region and expanding down the East Coast.

With headquarters in Newark, New Jersey and seven other thriving offices, Gibbons has a presence that lends itself to exceptional regional coverage. With cutting-edge video, audio, and network technology linking all of our offices, we are able to close major deals and devise litigation strategies for matters that involve Gibbons attorneys across several firm locations and client representatives throughout a number of their own sites – as if we were all in the same room.