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jkeale@tktrial.com
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James H. Keale
Co-Chair
Mr. Keale focuses his practice on defending manufacturers from a variety of industries in the areas of product liability, personal injury, commercial and specialty and catastrophic tort litigation. He has also served as lead counsel in the defense of national class action litigation.
Mr. Keale is a trial lawyer with a unique and fundamentally straight forward approach to all types of litigation. He feels that all matters on a path to trial require a direct and uncomplicated analysis that can be reduced to a presentation that is understandable to any jury in any jurisdiction. In today’s fast paced world of sound bites and head line analysis, the ability to present arguments and evidence in a format that can reach typical jurors is critical to effective trial work. Mr. Keale has focused on developing that skill throughout his career.
Prior to founding Tanenbaum Keale LLP, Mr. Keale was a partner with Sedgwick LLP where he served as Chair of the Complex Litigation Division and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He was previously a partner with McCarter & English LLP.
Mr. Keale is admitted to practice law in New Jersey and before the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey.
Mr. Keale has defended numerous corporations against product defect claims involving a wide variety of claims involving construction, mining and earth-moving machinery, water heaters and boiler equipment. He has been involved in various fire-related cases, defending claims of personal injury and property damage in addition to handling commercial litigation. Mr. Keale has served as trial counsel for these defendants in state and federal courts throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia and New York.
Mr. Keale earned recognition from Chambers USA in the publication’s 2022 rankings as a leading attorney in New Jersey for the area of Litigation: Product Liability. He has also been recognized in Who’s Who Legal: Product Liability Defense 2018, Best Lawyers in America as the 2019 Newark Mass Tort Litigation/Class Action – Defendants Lawyer of the Year, Benchmark Litigation as a Local Litigation Star and Martindale-Hubbell Attorney Rating Service with an “AV” rating.
In 2004, Mr. Keale was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2004. Additionally, he is a member of the American Bar Association and the New Jersey Bar Association.
- J.D. (1983) Seton Hall University
- B.A. (1980) Villanova University
- Author, Simple vs. Detailed: Inherent Tension in Warning Design, Industry Today, May 2021