Craig J. Hubert sees a lot of hard work ahead as he juggles career, family and now the challenges facing Mercer County attorneys.
By: Lauren Otis
Trial attorney Craig J. Hubert is used to taking on big challenges and capitalizing on them, having successfully argued cases before the state Supreme Court among other career accomplishments. In the coming year, Mr. Hubert’s plate is likely to be very full, even by his own standards.
He has switched law firms, leaving Hamilton-based Brotman, Graziano & Hubert P.C. to join Szaferman, Lakind, Blumstein, Blader & Lehmann P.C., based in Lawrenceville, as a partner. He was also just sworn in this month as president of the Mercer County Bar Association.
Mr. Hubert, 40, will be juggling these professional obligations along with familial ones at his home in Ringoes, where he’ll be helping his wife Susan, a special education teacher, raise their three girls Carlyn, Cassidy and Chandler and one son Craig James who all are younger than age 11.
"I coach basketball for Cassidy’s team," says Hubert, noting that his weekend schedule involving his children’s sports events is about as hectic as his weekday schedule.
"Is he going to have to work hard? Absolutely," says Barry Szaferman, managing partner of Szaferman, Lakind. "Is he going to have to juggle a lot of things, with four children, and work, and the bar association? Yeah, but when you’re young you can do that," Mr. Szaferman says with a chuckle.
Mr. Szaferman brought on Mr. Hubert to beef up Szaferman, Lakind’s already accomplished personal injury practice, led by name partner Steve Blader. Mr. Hubert says his own expertise dovetails nicely with that of his new firm’s personal injury practice.
"My practice concerns insurance coverage recoveries for those who have suffered a personal injury, are victims of crime," says Mr. Hubert, who is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Seton Hall University School of Law.
"I grew to respect Steve’s reputation, his skill as a trial attorney, the quality of the cases he presents, not just the strength of his advocacy but the strength of the cases themselves," says Mr. Hubert. Of another Szaferman, Lakind trial attorney Stuart Tucker Mr. Hubert says " we both grew up in Trenton and both went to the Hun School together, so it is like a reunion."
For his part, Mr. Szaferman says, "Mercer County is a small county and we know who is a top attorney" and Mr. Hubert is one. "We were very eager to have him join our firm, and we are fortunate he agreed to do so," says Mr. Szaferman, a former president of the Mercer County Bar Association himself.
In legal circles, Mr. Hubert is perhaps best known for arguing successfully before the state Supreme Court in 2001 on behalf of a 17-year-old boy who, because of something he did when he was 10, was going to be listed on the state’s Megan’s Law registry of sexual predators for the rest of his life. The boy’s alleged behavior at 10, playing a game of "doctor" with a cousin, was "certainly inappropriate behavior but not predatory," says Mr. Hubert.
The state Supreme Court agreed, ruling that it was not the intent of Megan’s Law to keep a registry on children 14 and under at the time of their crime, an important precedent for New Jersey and other states with similar registries.
"That was really quite an uphill battle, something I never shied away from," Mr. Hubert says of the experience. He took on the case on a pro bono basis, and ultimately it ran to "hundreds of hours, it could have added up to 1,000 hours" of his time. Both Mr. Hubert and Mr. Szaferman said they didn’t know if Mr. Hubert could or would take on any similarly high-profile case in his new position, but both noted Szaferman, Lakind’s commitment to pro bono work.
"At the Szaferman office, I find that the attorneys are willing to go above and beyond on any pro bono work," says Mr. Hubert.
Mr. Hubert has definite ideas of what he would like to accomplish as president of the Mercer County Bar Association, too. He wants to continue the association’s commitment to community work, including clothing and food drives for elderly and underprivileged county residents. And, in the area of law, he wants to build on the association’s push to increase membership among the county’s large number of public sector attorneys state and county attorneys, members of the county prosecutor’s office, public defenders and some of the hundreds of attorneys who practice at the Attorney General’s office.
The bar association has a successful track record of putting on well-attended, continuing-education seminars involving presentations by public-sector attorneys, which Mr. Hubert says he wants to continue to grow. Public and private sector attorneys may be adversaries in the courtroom, but at these events they can meet, mingle and learn from each other in an informal way.
"It helps reinforce civility and professionalism," says Mr. Hubert.
Finally, as bar association president, Mr. Hubert says he looks forward to working with officials on the Mercer County Courthouse project, which calls for a replacement to be built to the antiquated Criminal Courthouse on Broad Street in Trenton.
"We want to build a courthouse that benefits all the citizens of Mercer County," he says.
Any one of these objectives would make for a busy year, but Mr. Hubert is looking forward to tackling them all.