Bio

After beginning his career as a federal law clerk, John M. Bowens was appointed an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He later transferred to the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the U.S. Department of Justice where he served as a Special Attorney with Boston and Los Angeles Organized Crime Strike Forces. He tried numerous cases in New Jersey, Massachusetts and California, and handled a variety of appeals to federal circuit courts. Mr. Bowens has also lectured at the Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute on a variety of subjects. Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Certified Trial Attorney, Mr. Bowens formerly served on the Statewide Ethics Committee. He has also been repeatedly selected to the New Jersey Super Lawyers® * list, featured in New Jersey Monthly magazine, in the fields of business litigation and insurance law. In addition to his active trial and appellate practice, he has provided insurance and risk management advice to a variety of public and commercial clients. Mr. Bowens has been named a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. Fewer than 100 lawyers in the State of New Jersey are distinguished with this honor. He has been named as one of New Jersey’s Best Lawyers by Inside New Jersey Magazine. Mr. Bowens has been consistently listed in The Best Lawyers in America © ** in the field of Insurance Law. He has served on the Supreme Court Committees on Attorney Trial Certification and the Rules of Evidence. He served as an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University where he taught environmental law and civil procedure. Mr. Bowens is handling a significant dispute before the New Jersey Supreme Court concerning the New Jersey Constitution's provisions requiring the separation of church and state. Mr. Bowens represented the prevailing party, the County of Morris, at the trial level against a Wisconsin-based organization called the Freedom From Religion Foundation ("FFRF"), which objected to a country program that provided historic preservation grants to church buildings on the state and federal register of historical buildings. Based upon Mr. Bowens' argument, Judge Margaret Goodzeit, J.S.C. granted the County's motion for summary judgment, holding that the program did not violate the New Jersey Constitution. FFRF appealed the ruling to the New Jersey Appellate Division. In recognition of the weighty issues at stake in the case, Mr. Bowens utilized a seldom used, and rarely granted, motion to apply for direct consideration by the New Jersey Supreme Court. The Supreme Court accepted the arguments offered on behalf of Morris County and granted the application on June 2, 2017. The Supreme Court reversed the trial court and the matter is now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.