Bio

Lt. Governor Honorable Kim Guadagno concentrates her practice on assisting public and private clients with complex civil and regulatory litigation, white collar defense, public policy, crisis management and internal investigations. Lt. Governor Guadagno’s extensive background in the public and private sectors gives her a distinct and unsurpassed perspective to enable relationship building for successful business strategies and economic development outcomes, as well as insights into local, state and federal policy issues. Working closely with each of Connell Foley’s practice groups, Lt. Governor Guadagno counsels clients on local, state, and federal initiatives, economic development projects and various policy issues, while assisting them in all aspects of litigation. In eight years as New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor and the 33rd Secretary of State, Kim Guadagno was a steadfast advocate for businesses and corporations statewide, creating an effective infrastructure for economic growth and job creation. She established the Partnership for Action – New Jersey’s multi-faceted economic development strategy, comprised of the Business Action Center, Choose New Jersey, the Economic Development Authority and the Secretary of Higher Education. Lt. Governor Guadagno worked tirelessly to attract, retain, and expand companies by helping businesses negotiate the labyrinth of government at all levels. She met with thousands of business and government leaders statewide and played an integral role in the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and the dramatic growth of new business startups. As Chair of the Red Tape Review Commission, Lt. Governor Guadagno successfully led a bipartisan initiative reducing regulatory burdens on businesses. The Wall Street Journal profiled Lt. Governor Guadagno as possessing a “level of energy that has impressed members of the state’s influential business community.” After two federal clerkships and five years of private practice, Lt. Governor Guadagno began her public service career as a federal prosecutor with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Strike Force in Brooklyn, New York. She later became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the District of New Jersey, where she was twice awarded the U.S. Department of Justice’s highest honor for her prosecutions. Following her years of federal service, she became a senior member of the State of New Jersey Attorney General’s Office where she oversaw statewide criminal investigations. In 2001, Lt. Governor Guadagno left the public sector to work in private practice and also taught Legal Research and Writing at Rutgers School of Law in Newark for six years. In 2005, she was elected a commissioner in her hometown of Monmouth Beach and two years later, Guadagno became the first woman sheriff in Monmouth County where she led the 650-member, $65 million law enforcement agency until inaugurated New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor.