Gerald C. Escala
Gerald C. Escala retired in 2006 after more
than 14 years on the bench in Bergen County as Judge of the
Superior Court of New Jersey. He spent his first seven years
hearing divorces and family matters and in 1998 was assigned to
the Chancery Division, where for the remainder of his judicial
career he managed and heard cases involving business breakups,
shareholder-oppression claims, real-property disputes, will
contests, election matters, and the like, in what is probably
the busiest Chancery venue in the State. He was designated
presiding judge of the Family Part in 1997 and presiding judge
of the Chancery Division (General Equity and Probate) in 2004.
Since 1997, he was designated by the Assignment Judge in Bergen
County to act as assignment judge in her absence.
Before his appointment to the State bench in 1991, he
was in private law practice in Englewood and Tenafly for 26 years.
From 1973 to 1991, he was municipal-court judge in several
municipalities: Washington Township, Westwood, Demarest, and
Rockleigh. At Herten Burstein, he is consulting counsel and also
acts as mediator in cases in the areas of general equity, probate,
and matrimonial law.
A graduate of Lafayette College, Mr. Escala
studied Russian and East European history at Columbia University and
then attended Seton Hall University School of Law, receiving his
J.D. degree after four years of night course work.
He volunteers as backstage tour guide at the
Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, New York City.
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