Marc Saperstein has been one of New Jersey's leading trial attorneys for more than two decades, but that distinction obscures somewhat the broader personal story of the 57-year-old New York native. Saperstein co-founded Teaneck-based Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., and helped build the firm into one of the largest and most successful plaintiffs' personal injury law firms in New Jersey; he and his partners, Sam Davis and Garry Salomon, have remained loyal colleagues for over 25 years, a rarity in an era when many partnerships wither. Further, Saperstein has spearheaded important and expansive litigation - including national class action cases - that have defined the virtue of the profession and have improved the lives of millions. Saperstein, as immediate past president of the 2,200 member Association of Trial Lawyers in New Jersey, has pushed hard, both at the state level and nationally, to preserve the rights of ordinary citizens in litigating against large and powerful interests.

Saperstein by all accounts has earned his stature, and could project bravado, but he retains a down-to-earth, easygoing personality. That's in no small part a reflection of his modest roots. Saperstein's father, a strict disciplinarian, owned a candy store in Manhattan's Washington Heights. Saperstein and his two younger brothers shared a single room growing up. He remembers hot summer nights sleeping on the tenement fire escape. As a teen, after his family had moved to Dumont, Bergen County, New Jersey, Saperstein was a student leader and athlete (a quarterback until an injury sidelined him), and went on to Rutgers College. He graduated near the top of his class, earned a degree in economics and pursued a law degree at Emory in Atlanta. With a natural resourcefulness, Saperstein tried cases early on knowing he wanted to spend his career in the courtroom. "My family always said I had the power of persuasion." Still in his 20s, Saperstein joined with his childhood friends Samuel Davis and later Garry Salomon, in launching their firm, Davis, Saperstein and Salomon, P.C. They gained a reputation for aggressiveness and for effectively representing victims of personal injury accidents - from straightforward accident negligence cases to ultra complex medical malpractice claims.

Saperstein says he particularly enjoys litigating products liability cases where workers are injured or disfigured by unsafe or defective machines. He has also represented airline crash victims, survivors of fires and explosions, and trucking accident cases. Saperstein remains a prominent force in the courtrooms of Northern New Jersey, but is also well known for his role on the trial team in the landmark tobacco settlement of the 1990s, and his work on the class action litigation against the maker of the flawed diet drug Fen Phen.

For all that, "I'm every bit a hometown lawyer, haven't really changed my spots," says Saperstein today. The firm today is a leader in the Teaneck community and it has a substantial practice serving North Jersey's Hispanic communities as well. Saperstein continues to tackle high-stakes cases across the personal injury spectrum. He also serves as a Municipal Court Judge for the nearby Borough of Englewood Cliffs. Away from the office, Saperstein, now a resident of Alpine, NJ is a World War II historian. He enjoys collecting wine and reading American history. His mother's family survived the Holocaust and his father survived Pearl Harbor. Saperstein remains a great supporter of the Greatest Generation of The Second World War. Marc and Shelly Saperstein, his wife of 33 years, have two children.