McLaughlin & Nardi, LLC

Focus and practice areas

McLaughlin & Nardi, LLC is a full-service law firm in Totowa, New Jersey. The firm represents individuals and businesses across New Jersey and the New York City metropolitan area.

The practice list covers business law, employment law, construction law, litigation, real estate, tax law, estate planning and administration, and elder law. That is a wide span for a firm of this size. In my opinion, the pairing worth noting is business and tax work sitting alongside estates and elder law, since those matters often arrive together in the same family or the same closely held company.

On the business side, the firm handles formation and financing, contracts and transactions, and partnership disputes. Litigation work runs into state and federal court, and the firm also takes matters to arbitration and mediation.

How business and tax work overlap

A partnership dispute rarely stays inside one area of law. Ownership records, capital accounts and tax filings all become evidence about who agreed to what. Firms that keep tax capability in house can read those documents without sending them out.

The same logic applies to estate administration. An estate holding a stake in a family business raises valuation questions, and valuation questions are accounting questions before they are legal ones.

How the team is built

Frank P. Nardi and Maurice W. McLaughlin are the founding members. They met in law school, built separate practices, and later merged those practices into McLaughlin & Nardi, LLC. The firm's account of its own origin is unusually concrete for a website of this kind.

Frank Nardi heads the tax and estate practices. He handles tax law along with wills, trusts, estates and estate planning. He is a licensed certified public accountant and a certified financial planner, and he has lectured on tax and estate law.

Maurice McLaughlin leads litigation and alternative dispute resolution. His caseload covers commercial and employment litigation. He wrote a book on New Jersey public employment law, the Superior Court of New Jersey appoints him as a mediator, and he served as an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The wider roster

Pauline M.K. Young is a member of the firm. Her work spans employment and commercial litigation, business transactions and tax law, which puts her across both of the founders' territories.

Jennifer C. Meusel is of counsel and has practiced law for over two decades. She handles estate planning, estate administration, real estate transactions and property tax appeals. Property tax appeals are a distinct skill in New Jersey, where assessments are set at the municipal level and challenged before county boards or the Tax Court.

Hon. Peter F. Boggia, J.S.C. (ret.), is also of counsel, and Robert K. Chewning is an associate. Paralegal and administrative staff support the attorneys. Attorneys and staff at the firm are fluent in Spanish, which matters in Passaic County.

What the credentials tell a prospective client

Two items on this roster carry weight beyond a standard bio. A court-appointed mediator has been vetted by the judiciary for that role. Authorship of a book on New Jersey public employment law puts an attorney's reasoning on the record where other lawyers can check it.

The CPA and CFP designations behind the tax practice are separate licences with their own examinations and continuing education requirements. As a reviewer, I treat verifiable licensure and court appointments as stronger evidence than any descriptive language a firm writes about itself.

A retired Superior Court judge holding an of counsel position adds trial-court perspective to the litigation group. Judges who move into private practice bring a working knowledge of how a given bench handles motion practice and settlement conferences.

General context on the matters this firm names

The following is background on how these matters typically proceed in New Jersey, offered as general context and not as a description of any particular result at this firm.

Employment and public employment matters

New Jersey public employment disputes often start inside an administrative process before any court sees them. Civil service appeals, tenure charges and disciplinary hearings run through agency procedures with their own filing deadlines. Documentation built during that stage tends to shape whatever litigation follows.

Private sector employment claims usually begin with an internal complaint or an agency charge. Personnel files, performance reviews and email records do most of the work.

Business and partnership disputes

Closely held company disputes in New Jersey are frequently governed by the operating agreement or shareholder agreement first, and by statute where the agreement is silent. Buyout valuations and books-and-records demands are common early steps. Many of these matters settle after a valuation is exchanged.

Estate administration and elder law

Estate administration in New Jersey runs through the county surrogate. An executor files the will, obtains letters testamentary, notifies beneficiaries, settles debts and taxes, and distributes what remains. Disputes over a will move to the Chancery Division, Probate Part.

Elder law overlaps with Medicaid eligibility rules, which look back at asset transfers over a defined period. Planning done well in advance of a need generally leaves more options open than planning done during a crisis.

Construction and real estate

Construction matters turn on contracts, change orders, lien filings and payment timelines. New Jersey construction lien claims carry statutory deadlines that are strict. Real estate transactions bring in title review, survey issues and municipal approvals.

Where this listing lands

The firm publishes named attorneys with stated practice concentrations, a founding story, credentials that can be checked against public licensing and court records, and a single New Jersey office. That combination gives a prospective client something to verify.

What the site does not state is a founding year, though it describes one attorney's experience as spanning more than two decades. Law school and admission details are absent for several attorneys.

In my opinion, the profile suits someone whose legal question crosses categories: a business owner with a tax exposure, a family settling an estate that includes real property, an employee facing a disciplinary process. The firm's Spanish-language capability and its Passaic County location define the community it draws from. Six attorneys carry a practice list spanning eight areas of law.