Robert is a Government Services Advisor in Reed Smith’s Government Regulatory Enforcement Group whose practice is limited to legislative and executive branch lobbying. Robert represents clients before Congress and the Executive Branch in the areas of grants and infrastructure funding, including appropriations legislation. He has worked closely on the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (commonly known as the “Stimulus”) and has advised clients on the requirements connected with obtaining the grant funds contained therein. In addition, he has closely analyzed and worked on comprehensive legislation enacted into law affecting government contracting, product safety, financial reform, and health care reform. This includes representing clients before key congressional committees and providing counsel for client testimony before same. He continues to advise clients on the numerous rulemaking and grant opportunities these statutes are generating.
Robert served as a senior legislative assistant to then-Senator Jon S. Corzine (D-N.J.) from 2001 – 2005. His accomplishments in the Senate include obtaining more than $300 million for New Jersey in highway and mass transportation projects in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). They also include the successful enactment of legislation addressing drunken and distracted driving; authorizing more than $100 million for open space purchases in the Northeast; and strengthening the safety of gas pipelines.
In addition to working for former Senator Corzine, Robert has extensive experience in New Jersey’s legal and political circles. He worked in the New Jersey legislature, as an aide in the Ocean County-based offices of Senator President Pre-Tem John Russo, Assembly Deputy Speaker John Paul Doyle and Assemblywoman Marlene Lynch Ford. He also worked on a number of statewide political campaigns, including Senator Corzine’s 2000 campaign, for which he drafted policy statements, and speeches, and helped the candidate secure the endorsement of several key interest groups.
On the legal side, Robert is an attorney licensed in the State of New Jersey with experiences working in the New Jersey Attorney General’s office and the New Jersey Supreme Court in both Bergen County and Ocean County. He also worked in private practice, representing clients before courts in Passaic, Morris and Bergen Counties, and on the corporate level, worked in the headquarters of Prudential Insurance in Newark, handling the company’s response to a multi-million class action law suit.