Lowenstein Sandler partner Chris Porrino called serving the state as attorney general the greatest professional privilege of his career — but not necessarily for the reasons you might think.
Yes, Porrino got to bring the proverbial bad guys to justice. But more than that, the job presented a unique opportunity to make the system itself more just.
“We spent an enormous amount of time on criminal justice reform when I was in the AG’s office,” he said. “Whether it was bail reform or other items, we tried to approach things from a practical perspective and tried to strike a fair balance.
“It was important to me to help create a fairer criminal justice system.”
That’s why, when presented the opportunity to serve as chair of the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission by Gov. Phil Murphy, State Senate President Nick Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Porrino jumped at the chance.
“It was, ‘When do I start?’” he said.
The 13-member commission recently sent the Legislature its annual recommendations — four initiatives that Porrino feels will advance criminal justice reform, as they give judges the discretion to:
- Consider, as a mitigating factor at sentencing, defendants who committed a crime against someone who previously abused them;
- Waive mandatory fines for those who clearly don’t have the means to ever pay them;
- Waive mandatory jail time for some people convicted of non-violent drug offenses;
The fourth proposal creates a rehabilitative relief program, which allows defendants the ability to become eligible for parole after they reach a certain age (60-62) or serve a certain amount of time (20-30 years, depending on the crime).
Porrino is very clear on their purpose.
“These are not get-out-of-jail-free cards,” he said. “Each one of these four recommendations has one common theme: Let’s untie the hands of judges.”
They help reform a system in a way that everyone should want, Porrino said.
“Why wouldn’t the people of the state of New Jersey want to give the judges, who the legislature confirms, the discretion to make more decisions,” he asked then answered. “To me, it is so easy, so practical, so fair and so appropriate.”
It comes with a big reward, Porrino said.
“The work that we did here is directed at reducing racial disparities,” he said. “What’s the reason not to do it? That’s my question. I can’t think of one.”
Porrino, the chair of the litigation department at Lowenstein Sandler, recently spoke with ROI-NJ about all this and more. Here’s a look at more of the conversation, edited for space and clarity.
ROI-NJ: I can feel your passion for reform. Let’s start here: Do you feel any of the four recommendations is more important than the others?
Chris Porrino: I would say all four belong in the category of ‘No-brainers.’ Why wouldn’t you want to give judges discretion to waive fines and penalties against people who can’t pay them. What would be the reason not to do that? It costs money to chase folks to pay these fines and penalties — and they never will be able to. And the folks who have the fines and penalties imposed upon them would have those fines follow them around, potentially for many years, if not for the rest of their lives, because it creates all kinds of detainers and difficulties with respect to getting credit and other things.
Why wouldn’t you give judges the ability to consider, as a mitigating factor at sentencing, defendants who committed a crime against someone who previously abused them — certainly in the domestic violence context. Like I said, these are no-brainers.
ROI: Not a lot of people outside of the legal system have heard of the Sentencing and Disposition Commission, which was created in 2009 but did not become fully constituted until 2018. Who’s on the 13-member commission?
CP: The commission is comprised of professionals across the spectrum — both politically and philosophically, from prosecutors to public defenders to private criminal defense lawyers to the commissioner of the department of corrections. We’ve got representation, formally or informally, from the legislature, the judiciary and from the governor’s office. We’ve got every corner of the spectrum covered and that’s important because everything that comes out of the Sentencing Commission has to come out with unanimous approval.
ROI: In November, the group issued its fourth report (following those in 2019, 2022 and 2023). What is the next step?
CP: Getting them passed into law. Proposing ideas is nice, writing reports is nice, but none of that matters until the laws get passed. That’s how you affect people’s lives, and that’s what our goal is. It’s to make this system fairer for the people who have to experience the criminal justice system.
ROI: Do you think this will happen?
CP: I sure hope so. I view these four recommendations as easy because I can’t conceive of why anyone would think any one of them is a bad idea. The goal was to advance really important reforms that I thought would be easy to build consensus around. If we can’t build consensus around these, then I think we’ve got a little bit of head scratching to do.
ROI: Interacting with government officials has been a hallmark of your career. And it’s not just your time as attorney general, chief counsel to former Gov. Chris Christie or chair of the sentencing committee. In your role as chair of the litigation department at Lowenstein Sandler, you’re constantly interacting with state and federal governments. But here’s the catch: Sometimes you and your firm represent the government, sometimes you represent a client going against the government. How are you able to take both types of cases but maintain your relationships?
CP: It doesn’t take long on Google to find that I’ve represented the Murphy administration — and sued the Murphy administration — many times over the last few years. How do we do it? By being totally upfront about it. We’re not playing tricks. When we have a client with a problem or an opportunity involving the government, we have an upfront conversation with people in the government who trust us.
We have in-depth engagements prior to getting to litigation. What we basically say is, ‘We don’t want to litigate. And you, the government, doesn’t want to litigate. Let’s try and work this out.’ I would say, nine and a half times out of 10, we’re able to resolve these matters without any public discourse. There are many more matters that you don’t read about that are resolved in those discussions.
ROI: The ‘we’ in that sentence is the team at Lowenstein Sandler. You recently added Parimal Garg, Murphy’s chief counsel. He is just the latest on a long list of legal all-stars at the firm. Talk about the group Lowenstein Sandler has assembled?
CP: It is an extraordinary collection of talent. There’s Peter Slocum, a former first assistant AG, Kent Anderson, a former deputy AG and Chris Gerold, a former head of the state’s bureau of securities. There’s Justice Barry Albin, a former Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court whose experience is incredible, and Alexander Shalom, the chair of our Center for Public Interest, who has argued more than 100 cases before the New Jersey Supreme Court.
On the federal side, you’ve got Freda Wolfson, the former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Matt Boxer, a former federal prosecutor and comptroller for the state, Jason Gould and Scott McBride, two former chiefs of the healthcare fraud unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office — and Michael Himmel, a former assistant U.S. attorney.
I think anyone who’s got a challenge or an opportunity that touches on the government in the state of New Jersey should consider this group of very talented individuals, because I do think it’s a unique collection.
ROI: Lowenstein’s litigation depth goes well beyond government issues — detail some of those areas?
CP: Lynda Bennett heads our insurance recovery group. I say this all the time, ‘She’s the smartest insurance lawyer I’ve ever met, just absolutely brilliant.’ We’ve deepened the environmental group with the addition of Kegan Brown. We’re doing really big and important class-action work through Gavin Rooney in the business litigation group and Tom Redburn in the securities litigation group.
And that’s just litigation. There are some super talented lawyers on the transactional side of the practice, too.
Our managing partner, Gary Wingens, has done an incredible job assembling talent. We’re about 100 litigators in a number of different offices around the country. I feel lucky to be a part of it.
ROI: Just as you feel lucky to be part of a group that is leading criminal justice reform, yes?
CP: Absolutely. It was important to me to help create a fairer criminal justice system when I was attorney general, and that’s what the Sentencing Commission does full time.
I view that role as a privilege, not a job.
