By Joshua Burd
McManimon, Scotland & Baumann LLC has made two additions to its team of commercial real estate and land use attorneys.
According to the Roseland-based firm, J. Nicholas Strasser joins its ranks as a partner after three and a half years as the first assistant corporation counsel in Jersey City. With MSB, he represents both private clients and governmental entities, focusing on land use, development, redevelopment and commercial and transactional real estate.
Strasser previously handled the day-to-day management of Jersey City’s Law Department and regularly served as its representative at city council public meetings, according to his bio. He also served as the department’s liaison with other entities both within and outside the city organization related to operational and legal matters.
Prior to his time as assistant corporation counsel, Strasser was a civil litigator with a Hudson County firm representing insurance companies and their insureds in tort-based liability actions. He also served as an assistant prosecutor in the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Meantime, Jessica CM Almeida has joined MSB as an associate in its real estate and land use, redevelopment, housing practices. She comes to the firm after practicing for eight years in the areas of land use and associated litigation, redevelopment and municipal utilities.
MSB said Almeida has briefed and successfully argued matters before New Jersey’s Superior Court, its Appellate Division and the state Supreme Court. She has also participated in so-called Mount Laurel hearings involving affordable housing matters.
As an evening student at Seton Hall University School of Law, Almeida served two terms as the Student Bar Association Evening vice president, according to her bio. As a member of the Dispute Resolution Society, she was a two-time semifinalist in the American Bar Association Client Counseling Competition, while she was awarded the Appellate Advocacy Best Brief Award and served as a member of the Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board.
Following her graduation from law school in May 2013, Almeida clerked for former state Supreme Court Justice Mary Catherine Cuff.
MSB also noted that, after graduating from law school, Strasser joined the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He achieved the rank of captain and served with the 1st Cavalry Division from April 2005 to January 2008, deploying to Iraq as the trial counsel and international law attorney for the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade from October 2006 to December 2007.
From January 2008 to June 2009, Strasser was assigned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, serving first as an administrative law attorney and then as the legal adviser to the commandant, his bio said. His military awards include the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Strasser is admitted to practice in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and the U.S. District Court in New Jersey. Almeida, for her part, is admitted to practice in the states of New Jersey and New York and federal district courts in New Jersey and eastern and southern New York, along with U.S. Court of Appeals’ Second and Third circuits.