Kinney Lisovicz Reilly & Wolff PC

Focus and practice areas

Civil litigation is the core of the work here, and the published practice areas point toward insurance and defense matters. The firm, which calls itself KLRW, lists insurance coverage first among the subjects it handles. Close to it are premises liability, product liability, construction defect, and professional liability.

The list runs wider than insurance alone. KLRW also names food-borne illness, toxic exposure, breach of contract, employment litigation, auto and trucking claims, criminal defense, and appeals. In my opinion that mix reads as a general civil litigation firm with a strong insurance spine.

Breadth like this has a plain read for a client. Someone with an insurance coverage question and a related premises claim can keep both matters with one firm. KLRW handles the defense side of many of these disputes, which is where insurers and businesses most often need counsel.

Two of those areas, toxic exposure and food-borne illness, place KLRW in environmental and toxic tort work. These are technical cases. They turn on causation, exposure history, and expert testimony about how a substance or a pathogen reached a person.

How the team is built

The site lists sixteen attorneys across the two offices. Four of the surnames appear in the firm's name, which points to a closely held partnership. The site does not state when the firm was founded.

The roster splits across the two locations. Most of the named lawyers work from Parsippany, while at least one, Akash Kashyap, practices from the New York office. That split lets the firm staff matters in either state.

The named partners

Justin N. Kinney practices in Parsippany. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Vermont in 1989 and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University in Camden in 1993. His focus is insurance law and insurance litigation, with personal injury and defense litigation alongside.

James P. Lisovicz is a shareholder with a heavy trial background. The firm credits him with 32 years of civil trial experience and more than 75 verdicts in premises liability, construction and construction defect, products liability, and insurance coverage. His insurance work covers general liability, commercial and auto claims, workers' compensation, and employment.

Vincent E. Reilly earned a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy in 1970 and a Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1976. He works in insurance, appeals, and personal injury. He belongs to the American Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, and the Morris County Bar Association.

Other lawyers on the roster

Adam M. Maurer is a shareholder based in Parsippany. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Virginia Military Institute (1996), a Master of Science from Stevens Institute of Technology (2004), and a Juris Doctor from Seton Hall University School of Law (2007). Before KLRW he practiced at Coughlin Duffy LLP and clerked for a judge.

George A. Kelman studied at Thomas Edison State College, earning a Bachelor of Science in 1990, and took his Juris Doctor at Widener University School of Law in 1994. His work centers on construction and development, commercial real estate, and litigation. Michael S. Chuven, also a Widener graduate, concentrates on insurance matters.

Christian Bruun earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware in 1995 and a Juris Doctor from Roger Williams University in 2001. He handles personal injury, car accidents, medical malpractice, and criminal defense in the Morristown and Parsippany area. Akash Kashyap, a Brooklyn Law School graduate, works from the New York office.

Two offices and two court systems

KLRW keeps one office in Parsippany, New Jersey and one in New York, New York. The firm says it represents businesses and individuals in both federal and state courts. A two-state footprint fits a defense practice, where insurers and companies often answer claims on both sides of the Hudson.

The New York presence widens the reach for coverage and liability work that crosses state lines. Paired offices give clients whose exposure runs through both jurisdictions a single firm on both ends.

What the record shows

The firm's website states that U.S.News and BL named it a New Jersey Tier 1 firm for Insurance Law in 2025 and listed it from 2018 through 2025. The recognition is specific to insurance law, which matches the practice areas KLRW puts forward. Several years of listing in one defined field is a steady signal about where the firm concentrates.

A multi-year listing carries more weight than a single mention. The 2018 to 2025 span means the insurance recognition held across several years of updates. As a reviewer, I weigh that longevity above any one-year placement.

James P. Lisovicz's trial record adds a courtroom dimension to that insurance focus. His verdicts include insurance coverage matters, which ties the litigation side back to the firm's core subject. Between the coverage recognition and that trial history, KLRW's public profile leans toward insurance and its related liability lines.

How these matters tend to proceed

Insurance coverage disputes, the first area KLRW names, usually start with the policy language itself. A coverage lawyer reads the policy, the claim, and the facts, then argues whether the loss falls inside or outside the grant of coverage. Many of these cases resolve through declaratory judgment actions, where a court rules on the duty to defend or indemnify before the underlying claim goes to trial.

Toxic exposure and food-borne illness claims follow a different path. They lean on medical and scientific proof. A defense team tests the plaintiff's causation theory, the exposure timeline, and the reliability of the expert opinions offered against it.

Construction defect files, another area the firm names, often pull in several parties at once: owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and their insurers, each with a stake in who pays. Cases like these can run for years. They reward a firm that keeps trial-ready lawyers on staff, and KLRW's roster includes a shareholder credited with more than 75 verdicts.

The appellate side

Appeals, which the firm lists last among its areas, work on a separate track. An appellate lawyer takes the trial record as it stands and argues points of law to a higher court. Vincent E. Reilly names appeals among his own areas, so the firm keeps that capacity in house.