Sunday, November 21, 2010

Law firm's potential conflict

Scales Of JusticeImage by vaXzine via Flickr


Suspended Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa and North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record, are represented by partners in the same Florham Park law firm.

Named partner Bruce S. Rosen, a former Record reporter who now represents NJMG, also served as the attorney for Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg when Borg and neighbors opposed the expansion of a synagogue on his block in the East Hill section of Englewood.

Zisa, who is defending himself against criminal charges, as well as civil lawsuits from police officers he once supervised, is represented by Patricia Prezioso, a partner in McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli.

The Record's Hackensack reporter, Monsy Alvarado, has been pursuing the Zisa story since at least June 2009, and has written numerous stories about Zisa's law enforcement job and business interests, as well as covering the criminal charges against the chief, the lawsuits and disciplinary hearings for officers who filed them.

It is not known whether Alvarado and her supervising editors consulted Rosen in their efforts to get documents or other material they needed for those stories.

A potential conflict would arise if Rosen and Presiozo -- or law firm staff working for them -- discussed their clients or their legal strategies with each other or saw any of the files relating to those clients.

When Rosen worked at The Record from 1975-86, he told colleagues that Mac had given him at least one mortgage to buy a home.
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