Ms. Barnum, co-chair of the Firm's Construction Industry Practice Group, is a trial lawyer with more than 25 years of experience representing developers, business owners, landlords, lenders and municipalities in a wide variety of business, commercial and creditors' rights litigation. She also counsels clients on shifting risk and litigation prevention. Ms. Barnum has an active dispute resolution practice and is an arbitrator for the Federal Court for the District of New Jersey, as well as a New Jersey court-certified mediator.
Areas of Experience
Construction Industry Litigation
· Ms. Barnum has represented a national homebuilder in a variety of contract, tort and warranty actions in court, before the American Arbitration Association, and in private dispute resolution settings.
· Ms. Barnum successfully defended a homebuilder in an appeal by a group of homeowners seeking class certification and nullification of an arbitration provision in a new home sales agreement.
Financial Litigation
· Ms. Barnum represented a national commercial mortgage corporation in a multimillion dollar foreclosure of a New Jersey privately owned care center and companion fraudulent transfer action against the shareholders of the corporation that owned the center.
· Ms. Barnum represented three of six executors/trustees of a $20 million estate in successful action to fulfill the terms of the testator's will in the face of opposition mounted by a corporate trustee.
Environmental Litigation
· Ms. Barnum has successfully defended clients joined in environmental landfill cleanup actions brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Community Activities
· Cherry Hill Township Environmental Advisory Committee, Vice Chair
· First Presbyterian Church of Somerdale, Somerdale, NJ: Elder, 2003-2006
Clerkships
U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare, Office of the General Counsel (Summer)
Professional Affiliations
· American Bar Association, Section of Litigation's Construction Litigation Committee, Co-Chair of Green Building and Renewable Energy Sub-Committee, 2011
· National Association of Women Lawyers, Board member 1987-1993; President 1990-1991
· New Jersey Bar Association, member; Construction Section, Delegate to New Jersey Bar Association General Counsel
· New Jersey Bar Association, member; Renewable Energy, Cleantech and Climate Change Committee
Other Distinctions
· Named a "New Jersey Super Lawyer" for construction litigation, 2006-2007 and 2012
· Phi Beta Kappa
· Davison-Foreman Fellowship
News
05/18/2012, Super Lawyers Recognizes Many Schnader Attorneys in 2012
11/23/2011, Jeanne Barnum Selected to Participate in the ABA's 2012 Advanced Planning Leadership Program
04/06/2007, Schnader Attorneys Named New Jersey Super Lawyers
04/07/2006, Four Schnader Attorneys Honored as New Jersey Super Lawyers, Rising Stars
Publications
ALERTS
07/05/2011, Supreme Court Holds Federal Courts Do Not Have Jurisdiction to Hear Federal Common Law Nuisance Claims Relating to Greenhouse Gas Emissions
NEWSLETTERS
08/01/2005, Issues and Trends in New Jersey Law
Speaking Engagements
06/02/2011, Schnader's Jeanne Barnum Presents at the 3rd Annual Green Buildings Summit 2011
09/24/2009, Bankruptcy Implications in the New Economy
09/17/2009, Webinar: Litigation Fundamentals - Motion Practice