Andrew T. Fede

For over 30 years, Andrew has maintained a diverse practice focused on several areas, which include appellate litigation, commercial and governmental civil litigation, municipal law, zoning and planning, real estate tax appeal,  labor and employment, employment and other forms of discrimination, wrongful termination, probate law, real estate law, and constitutional law.  He has served as the attorney for the Boroughs of Bogota, Maywood, and Norwood, and for the Township of Mahwah.  He has been the planning board attorney, zoning board attorney, library board attorney, and special counsel in six other New Jersey municipalities. Andrew is a certified mediator in the New Jersey Superior Court mediation program for civil, general equity, and probate cases, is an arbitrator in the Bergen County Superior Court contract/commercial arbitration program, and has been appointed by several Superior Court judges to serve in cases as mediator, arbitrator, special master, and condemnation commissioner.

Since 1986, Andrew has been an adjunct professor at Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. Most recently he has been teaching a legal writing course in the University’s Department of Political Science and Law. He is the author of numerous articles on legal topics, which have appeared in a variety of publications. A legal historian, he is the author of Homicide Justified: The Legality of Killing Slaves in the United States and the Atlantic World (forthcoming, July 2017, University of Georgia Press);  Roadblocks to Freedom:  Slavery & Manumission in the United States South (2011), and People Without Rights:  An Interpretation of the Fundamentals of the Law of Slavery in the U.S. South (1992), which was republished in 2011, as well as five scholarly articles that appeared in the Cardozo Law Review, the American Journal of Legal History, the Law and History Review, and FCH Annals: Journal of the Florida Conference of Historians. He also authored biographies of New Jersey judge Andrew Kirkpatrick and New Jersey judge and influential corporate lawyer James B. Dill in the American National Biography (1999) and of Dill in the Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (2009), an article on “Slave Codes” in the Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery (1998), three book reviews that were published in the American Journal of Legal History, and one book review published in the American Historical Review.

Professional and Community Involvement

  • American Bar Association
  • New Jersey Bar Association
  • Bergen County Bar Association
  • New Jersey Institute for Municipal Attorneys
  • American Society for Legal History
  • Bogota Republican Municipal Chair (2001 to present)
  • Pro Bono Attorney for Bogota Student Loan Association (May 1996 to present)

Select Articles

  • “Sign and Billboard Law: Hijacking the First Amendment or Balancing Freedom of Expression and Government Control?” New Jersey Lawyer (April 2017)

Past Speaking Engagements and Seminars

  • “Sign Regulations: New Challenges and Best Practices,” New Jersey Government Law: What You Need to Know Now, National Business Institute (September 2023)
  • “Public Records and Open Meeting Law: Rapid-Fire Updates,” New Jersey Government Law: What You Need to Know Now, National Business Institute (September 2023)
  • “Digital Sign and Billboard Regulation: Insights from Top Lawyers,” Advanced Land Use and Zoning Disputes with Local Government, National Business Institute (August 2023)
  • “Sign and Billboard Zoning Law,” National Business Institute and West LegalEdcenter (January 2017)
  • “Exemplary Practices of Highly Effective Practitioners: Appellate Practice,” Bergen County Bar Association (October 2016)
  • “Government Attorney Ethics: Protect Your Client and Yourself,” Local Issues Involving Local Governments, National Business Institute (June 2016)
  • “Sign Regulations: How Local Governments Can Respond to New Challenges,” National Business Institute and West LegalEdcenter (April 2016)

NEWS & EVENTS

Double Reversal: Appeals Court Rules for Mahwah Township Again in Fitness Center Zoning Suit

Andrew Fede Discusses Sign and Billboard Law

Andrew Fede to Speak at NBI's "Advanced Land Use and Zoning Disputes with Local Government" Live Webinar