Brendan M. Walsh, Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C. Photo

Brendan M. Walsh

Co-Chair, Litigation
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Overview

Brendan Walsh serves as co-chair of the firm's Litigation department. Brendan is an accomplished litigator whose clients range from Fortune 500 corporations to high-net-worth individuals and closely-held companies. Clients appreciate his creative thinking, commitment to protecting their interests, and diligence. Brendan is a skilled writer who can distill complex legal and factual issues into arguments that can be easily understood.

Along with his trial court work, Brendan has substantial appellate experience, having successfully briefed and argued appeals in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits, and the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey. He recently secured a complete victory in the Second Circuit for a global restaurant chain involved in a complex commercial real estate dispute. He also obtained reversals in two separate Third Circuit appeals, one challenging the constitutionality of a prison’s intrusive search policy of inmates housed in isolation units and another challenging a trial court’s order compelling the production of thousands of privileged documents from an attorney’s work files.

Brendan has authored amicus briefs to several appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Tenth Circuits.

Brendan brings substantial business experience to his litigation practice. Before attending law school, he worked as a certified public accountant at Deloitte, where he provided audit and advisory services to a diverse group of clients around the world, including other accounting and consulting firms, manufacturers, retailers, and a professional sports franchise.

Before joining Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, Brendan was a litigation associate at Patton Boggs LLP. Earlier in his career, he clerked for Judge Maryanne Trump Barry of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and for Judge Katharine S. Hayden of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. As an undergrad at the University of Notre Dame, Brendan worked as the head manager of the Notre Dame football team, an experience he credits with further developing his strong work ethic, dedication, leadership, and collaborative approach.

Brendan is proud of the results he has achieved for clients, some of which are noted here and under the “Experience” section of this biography.  Of course, each legal matter is unique on many levels, and past successes are not a guarantee of results in any other pending or future matters.

Experience

Representative Matters

Our firm is proud of the results it has achieved for clients, some of which are noted here.  Of course, each legal matter is unique on many levels, and past successes are not a guarantee of results in any other pending or future matters.

  • Representing a digital video streaming service in a putative class action venued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleging violations of federal privacy law.
  • Represented a major retailer in cases brought by counties and cities in New Jersey alleging that the distribution of prescription opioids constitutes a public nuisance.
  • Representing a Fortune 500 company with expansive real estate holdings in a variety of business litigation and land use matters in New Jersey and New York.
  • Representing one of the world’s largest financial institutions in a qui tam litigation involving alleged violations of the New Jersey False Claims Act arising from the offering and sale of municipal bonds.
  • Successfully briefed and argued an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of a global restaurant chain in a complex commercial dispute.
  • Obtained the dismissal of claims asserted against a Canadian bank and its broker-dealer affiliate in a federal litigation venued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York involving claims of wrongful termination, breach of contract, and invasion of privacy.
  • Successfully represented a major financial institution in litigations in both state and federal court in New York (New York County Commercial Division and the U.S. District for the Eastern District of New York) seeking the recovery of nearly $1 million in funds wrongfully removed by customers from an account in violation of foreign court orders.
  • Represented a New Jersey-based financier and developer of solar energy generation projects in a federal litigation venued in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey arising from the sale of solar projects on government-owned property in New Jersey.
  • Represented prominent cardiology group and individual cardiologists in a business tort case brought against them by a specialty hospital asserting claims of tortious interference and unfair competition relating to the group’s referral practices. Retained after the trial court had just denied defendants’ motions for summary judgment and facing a trial that was expected to last several months, we spearheaded the filing of new motions for summary judgment that raised dispositive issues that had not yet been addressed in the more than seven-year-old litigation. Following extensive briefing, the trial court dismissed all of the hospital’s claims with prejudice. The hospital had been seeking nearly $30 million in compensatory damages and an award of punitive damages. On appeal, the Appellate Division affirmed the dismissal of 99% of the hospital’s damages claim and remanded for further proceedings on claims valued at less than $300,000. The case settled during trial, shortly after the parties selected a jury and delivered opening statements.
  • Represented the New Jersey General Assembly in a high-profile investigation by a joint legislative committee into the State’s policies and procedures regarding the screening of prospective employees and the handling of claims of sexual assault, abuse, or harassment. Co-authored 119-page committee report that detailed the committee’s factual findings and included nine recommended changes to law and policy.
  • Represented a New York-based developer and financier of solar energy projects in disputes in both the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Superior Court of New Jersey arising from three municipal project financings for the design and construction of dozens of solar power electric generating facilities on government-owned properties in Morris, Somerset, and Sussex counties. Successfully obtained a judgment discharging more than $40 million in Municipal Mechanics’ Liens levied against public project funds and then secured an affirmance of that decision following an expedited appeal. Defeated multiple attempts to freeze tens of millions of dollars in proceeds from solar renewable energy certificates, section 1603 grants from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and revenue derived from the sale of solar electricity. Negotiated extremely complex global settlement agreements that resolved disputes with the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor, county improvement authorities, and county governments.
  • Obtained not guilty verdicts on all charges in a vehicular homicide case arising out of a fatal accident in the Lincoln Tunnel in which the evidence demonstrated that the client’s car was traveling at 91 mph at the moment of the crash. The jury accepted the client’s defense that he suffered a serious medical episode inside the tunnel that rendered him unconscious in the moments leading up to the accident.
  • Represented a British bank in an action brought in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to recover an unpaid investment banking fee. Negotiated a settlement following motion practice in which the court struck several of the adversary’s affirmative defenses and dismissed the adversary’s counterclaim against the firm’s client for breach of contract.
  • Represented major mattress retailer in a putative class action alleging violations of both the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and the New Jersey Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act. Negotiated a favorable class-wide settlement prior to resolution of the plaintiff’s motion for class certification.
  • Co-authored, and served as counsel of record for, an amicus brief filed in the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of a group of eleven members of the U.S. Senate and four members of the U.S. House of Representatives in the most closely watched case of the 2013-2014 Supreme Court term.
  • Successfully represented an inmate on an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a suit challenging, among other things, a prison policy that required all isolation inmates to be strip searched every eight hours, regardless of whether they had any opportunity to obtain contraband. In a precedential decision, the unanimous panel held that “the particular search policy . . . is not reasonably related to [the prison’s] legitimate interests in detecting and deterring contraband, particularly given the significant intrusiveness of the thrice-daily visual body-cavity searches.
  • Represented a U.S. subsidiary of an internationally-based global mining and exploration company in a litigation brought by a competitor seeking an award of damages and an injunction prohibiting the U.S. subsidiary from selling one of its primary products in North America. Successfully opposed an order to show cause seeking temporary restraints that would have crippled the client's business.
  • Represented a British bank in a litigation venued in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County involving claims for alleged fraud and racketeering arising out of an insurance company’s investment in nearly $300 million in residential mortgage-backed securities.

Recognition

Honors & Recognitions

  • Selected for includion in the list of New Jersey Super Lawyers, 2023
  • Selected for inclusion in the list of New Jersey Super Lawyers, Rising Star, 2013-2018
  • Patton Boggs LLP, Power Player of the Year, 2010

The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology can be found at http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html.

The New Jersey Rising Star list is issued by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology can be found at http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html.

No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

News & Insights

News

Publications

Associations

Community & Professional

  • Member, Law360's 2023 New Jersey Editorial Board 
  • Co-Founder and Treasurer, VeronaTogether
  • Co-chair, Seton Hall Law School’s Red Mass Committee
  • Past Board President, Alpine Learning Group

Training

  • Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia School of Law, 2011

Bar Admissions

  • New Jersey
  • New York

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court 
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuits
  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York

Education

University of Notre Dame (B.B.A. 2000)

Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D., summa cum laude 2006; Editor-in-Chief, Seton Hall Law Review; Order of the Coif)

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