New Jersey attorney proves adept at spinning yarns, saving companies
Attorney Jeffrey Rosenthal is one of those rare breeds of people who is as good at crunching numbers as he is at spinning a tale.
Attorney Jeffrey Rosenthal is one of those rare breeds of people who is as good at crunching numbers as he is at spinning a tale.
“My wife and kids will tell you I tell too many stories and I include them in a lot of them,” jokes Rosenthal.
The New Jersey attorney with Mandelbaum Barrett PC has story after story in his mind’s pockets.
He tells tales of growing up outside of Peekskill in northwestern Westchester County, New York.
“It was a great place to grow up because you could only get into trouble that you made yourself, which I managed to do quite a lot,” he says.
He has stories of his father, a chicken broker who bought older birds that were no longer good for laying eggs and sold them to dressing plants for soup. His clients, at one point, included Campbell’s, Heinz, and Progresso. Rosenthal describes working on his father’s chicken trucks from the age of twelve and throughout his teens, enduring claw scratches on his arms as he stacked wooden crates of chickens eight high in the truck bed. It was smelly, dirty work.
He tells the story of breaking his leg in the fifth grade while sliding down a hill at school on a cafeteria tray. His parents sued the school for negligence. A few years later, he accompanied his father to the courthouse to settle the case and the judge asked the young Rosenthal what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“He just told me after this experience, he wants to be a lawyer,” Rosenthal’s father told the judge. When the judge asked Rosenthal why he wanted to be a lawyer, the boy responded, “Because it doesn’t smell like chickens or manure.”
That early exchange may have been when the initial seed was planted in Rosenthal’s brain that he should one day be a lawyer, but he first followed his aptitude for numbers into an accounting career, which also didn’t smell like chickens or manure.
He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh, where he met his future wife, Susan, who was studying to be a pharmacist.
“I could tell you a very cute story,” he says as he begins an animated recounting of their first encounter. It was near the end of his sophomore year when he “stumbled” into the library to take a nap after drinking for hours at a campus bar. She caught his eye as she entered the stacks and he determined to ask her out. She turned him down that day, but over the next several days he continued to return to the library to talk with her, and on his fourth request for a date she relented. She made him accompany her to a flower show, where he suffered an allergy attack, but stuck it out.
Attorney Jeffrey Rosenthal is one of those rare breeds of people who is as good at crunching numbers as he is at spinning a tale.
“My wife and kids will tell you I tell too many stories and I include them in a lot of them,” jokes Rosenthal.
The New Jersey attorney with Mandelbaum Barrett PC has story after story in his mind’s pockets.
He tells tales of growing up outside of Peekskill in northwestern Westchester County, New York.
“It was a great place to grow up because you could only get into trouble that you made yourself, which I managed to do quite a lot,” he says.
He has stories of his father, a chicken broker who bought older birds that were no longer good for laying eggs and sold them to dressing plants for soup. His clients, at one point, included Campbell’s, Heinz, and Progresso. Rosenthal describes working on his father’s chicken trucks from the age of twelve and throughout his teens, enduring claw scratches on his arms as he stacked wooden crates of chickens eight high in the truck bed. It was smelly, dirty work.
He tells the story of breaking his leg in the fifth grade while sliding down a hill at school on a cafeteria tray. His parents sued the school for negligence. A few years later, he accompanied his father to the courthouse to settle the case and the judge asked the young Rosenthal what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“He just told me after this experience, he wants to be a lawyer,” Rosenthal’s father told the judge. When the judge asked Rosenthal why he wanted to be a lawyer, the boy responded, “Because it doesn’t smell like chickens or manure.”
That early exchange may have been when the initial seed was planted in Rosenthal’s brain that he should one day be a lawyer, but he first followed his aptitude for numbers into an accounting career, which also didn’t smell like chickens or manure.
He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh, where he met his future wife, Susan, who was studying to be a pharmacist.
“I could tell you a very cute story,” he says as he begins an animated recounting of their first encounter. It was near the end of his sophomore year when he “stumbled” into the library to take a nap after drinking for hours at a campus bar. She caught his eye as she entered the stacks and he determined to ask her out. She turned him down that day, but over the next several days he continued to return to the library to talk with her, and on his fourth request for a date she relented. She made him accompany her to a flower show, where he suffered an allergy attack, but stuck it out.
Gerald Swann
Ball, Ball, Matthews & Novak, P.A., Montgomery, Alabama
Ball, Ball, Matthews & Novak, P.A., Montgomery, Alabama
What is your proudest career achievement?
Being named president of the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association and starting its annual community service project.
Being named president of the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association and starting its annual community service project.
Cocktails & Conversation
April 13th at 4:00 pm EDT
The Dos and Don'ts of Construction Contracts
Jacky Greenberg Vogt
Mandelbaum Barrett PC, Roseland, New Jersey
April 13th at 4:00 pm EDT
The Dos and Don'ts of Construction Contracts
Jacky Greenberg Vogt
Mandelbaum Barrett PC, Roseland, New Jersey
Coffee & Conversation
April 17th at 10:00 am EDT
Marketing Your Specialty Practice Both Inside and Outside Your Full-Service Law Firm
Nancy Foti
Goodman Allen Donnelly, Norfolk, Virginia
April 17th at 10:00 am EDT
Marketing Your Specialty Practice Both Inside and Outside Your Full-Service Law Firm
Nancy Foti
Goodman Allen Donnelly, Norfolk, Virginia
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In the legal profession, size matters.
Which is why Primerus™ can help bring a sense of balance to the vastness of the legal marketplace, enabling law firms of various sizes the opportunity to compete on an equal footing with the giants of the profession while remaining nimble enough to still offer the personal touch.
Which is why Primerus™ can help bring a sense of balance to the vastness of the legal marketplace, enabling law firms of various sizes the opportunity to compete on an equal footing with the giants of the profession while remaining nimble enough to still offer the personal touch.
Changing the World in the Nick of Time
Rule of law faces stiff test against unbridled attacks
In the “land of the free,” there are those in this country that are quite intent on pushing our democracy closer to a one-party state.
The irony of that development was on full display last Tuesday when Donald Trump made his own sort of history, becoming the first former president or sitting president to be arraigned for a crime. He is alleged to have participated in a hush-money scheme to silence a porn star from disclosing any mention of a reported extramarital affair, an infidelity that the former president denies ever happened.
The irony of that development was on full display last Tuesday when Donald Trump made his own sort of history, becoming the first former president or sitting president to be arraigned for a crime. He is alleged to have participated in a hush-money scheme to silence a porn star from disclosing any mention of a reported extramarital affair, an infidelity that the former president denies ever happened.
Primerus™ Weekly invites different points of view
The Primerus™ Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and op-ed columns on timely topics or items of general interest.
Submissions should be limited to 800 words and must be timely, well written, and reflect a relevant point of view that will enlighten our readers. All submissions will be edited for clarity, grammar, and style. Anonymous submissions will not be accepted, nor will those that contain falsehoods or potentially libelous information.
For those interested in contributing a letter to the editor or an op-ed column, please include a short bio (20-30 words) along with your contact information. Submissions should be sent to Robin Lewis at rlewis@primerus.com.
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