Philip E. Stern, a founding member of Adams Stern Gutierrez & Lattiboudere, has been practicing in the areas of labor and employment and education law on behalf of employers for the past eighteen years.  During that time, Mr. Stern has represented public and private sector employers in all areas of labor and employment law, participating extensively in litigation, negotiations and counseling.  The hallmark of Mr. Stern’s legal philosophy is that which is embraced at Adams Stern Gutierrez & Lattiboudere: while many legal conflicts can be resolved without resort to litigation and that litigation must be viewed as an absolute last resort, we are prepared to do all that is necessary in the event that litigation is required.  

    

    Mr. Stern earned his BA at Wesleyan University, where he majored in Government.  After a ten-year career in education, during which time  Mr. Stern helped found a private, alternative school in Newark, New Jersey (Kids School) and taught Middle School students at Glenfield Middle School in Montclair, New Jersey, he attended New York Law School, where he was an editor of the New York Law School Law Review.  Mr. Stern also earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Montclair State University.

    

    As a litigator, Mr. Stern has appeared before all levels of New Jersey State Courts, including the New Jersey Supreme Court and New Jersey Administrative tribunals.  He has also litigated in the federal courts of New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York.  On behalf of a public sector employer, Mr. Stern successfully defended a New Jersey Superior Court jury trial brought under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (“CEPA”) - a case that was affirmed on appeal.

    

    As a negotiator, Mr. Stern is a recent President of the North American Association of Educational Negotiators, a continent-wide organization dedicated to the betterment of negotiations in the education sector.   Mr. Stern has been trained in all methods of collective bargaining, from positional to interest-based, and has given seminars all over the country on various methods of bargaining.

    

    As a counselor, Mr. Stern embraces a client-centered approach to decision-making, in which his role is to provide legal guidance to assist and inform short-and long-term desired outcomes.   His experience with employers has taught him that the key to preventing litigation is in providing comprehensive training in all areas of labor and employment law.   Mr. Stern’s goal, and the goal of Adams Stern Gutierrez & Lattiboudere, is to provide the legal expertise to allow public and private sector employers to focus on their intended missions and visions, free of unnecessary litigation.