E. Evans Wohlforth

Mr. E. Evans Wohlforth is a business litigator and appellate practitioner advocating on behalf of business interests, primarily in the federal courts but also in state courts, arbitrations, and mediations throughout the country. He combines wide experience of the complex and technical issues that arise in sophisticated litigation with an ability to identify and achieve practical solutions in commercial disputes.

Mr. Wohlforth particularly focuses on code-based areas of federal law, such as ERISA, intellectual property, and bankruptcy litigation and complex class and multi-district actions. He has also litigated a wide range of commercial issues.

Mr. Wohlforth has represented clients in the federal district and bankruptcy courts of New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, and Pennsylvania; the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; the state trial and appellate courts of New Jersey, Florida, New York, and Nevada; and the trial courts of North Carolina and California. Recognized as a go-to litigator, he frequently is on his feet advocating on behalf of business interests in trial and appellate courts, arbitrations, and mediations, and he has numerous reported and unreported decisions to his credit.

Recent representative cases include serving as appellate counsel to the New Jersey Supreme Court regarding an adverse verdict in a large contract dispute. Mr. Wohlforth also represents a major ERISA benefits administrator in matters with wide-ranging impact.

For this client, he has recently secured the dismissal of a putative ERISA class action concerning payment for an unproven medical procedure and defended an appeal to the Third Circuit regarding a coverage issue of statewide significance, and he is currently handling numerous trial level matters in the United States District of New Jersey and the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Wohlforth’s broad experience in substantively and procedurally complex matters and his frequent appearances in the courts in New Jersey and elsewhere have made him a trusted authority and advocate by litigants and judges alike. The Federal District of New Jersey has called on him to act as pro bono counsel in prisoners’ rights class action litigation.

Mr. Wohlforth serves on the Gibbons Professional Responsibility Committee, assisting the General Counsel of the firm. He has served as adjunct professor of law at Rutgers Law School – Newark, where he taught trademark and copyright law. He has spoken at continuing legal education seminars and trade group meetings on insolvency and intellectual property topics.

EDUCATION:

• Rutgers School of Law – Newark (J.D.)
  • Senior Articles Editor, Rutgers Law Review
• Manhattan School of Music (M.Mus.)
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music(B.Mus.)

PROFESSIONAL ADMISSIONS:

• State of New Jersey
• United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
• United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:

• John C. Lifland Inn of Court
• Rutgers Law School – Newark
  • Adjunct Professor of Law
• Essex County Bar Association
• New Jersey State Bar Association
• American Bar Association

JUDICIAL CLERKSHIP(S):

• Judicial clerk to the Honorable Gary S. Stein, New Jersey Supreme Court
• Judicial clerk to the Honorable Alfred M. Wolin, United States District Court