NJBIZ ICON Honors 2024 – Jeffrey Greenbaum

Jeffrey Greenbaum, Chair of the Sills Cummis Class Action Practice Group, was selected by NJBIZ as a 2024 ICON honoree. ICON honorees are New Jersey business leaders with distinguished careers marked by notable accomplishments. According to NJBIZ, “ICON honorees are in a class by themselves: the pioneers and change makers blazed trails and continue to pursue innovation. They have helped New Jersey’s economy grow and their industries to prosper.” The NJBIZ ICON honorees were recognized at a ceremony at The Marigold in Somerset, NJ on August 13, 2024.

The following Q&A with Jeffrey Greenbaum appeared in the NJBIZ ICON Honors Supplement.

“After first serving as a law clerk to a federal judge, Jeffrey J. Greenbaum went on to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and later, in 1977, he joined the then 21-person firm that is now Sills Cummis & Gross, where he leads the class action practice group. Under his leadership, the firm is now over 150 attorneys and continues to be a leading NJ law firm.”

What do you feel is your biggest contribution to the New Jersey business community?
My biggest contribution is serving as a leader in any organization in which I agreed to participate. If you agree to serve, to make the maximum contribution, you must agree to put in the time and effort to rise to the top. Half measures do not cut it. You cannot affect policy and steer an organization in the direction you think best unless you lead it. You need to help build consensus among other leaders, find a common direction and know when to bring matters to a head to get results.

What is something you are totally passionate about?
I am passionate about improving our justice system and in particular, our court system for resolving civil disputes. Throughout the course of my career, I have seen unnecessary hoops and requirements that cause delay and increase cost and have worked through many vehicles to effect change and reform to eliminate some of them and streamline processes.

What is the best decision you’ve made during your career?
To be the first volunteer summer intern in the Newark U.S. Attorney’s office in 1970 after my first year in law school. I lived in Roslyn, NY at the time and was attending the University of Michigan Law School. I read on the front pages of the New York Times about the public corruption trials going on in Newark of, for example, then Mayor Hugh Addonizio and of mafia bosses, and thought it would be an exciting place to work.

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