For more than four decades Dan Simpson has served a wide variety of publicly traded and private business entities and their owners, providing them with a broad range of services from general counsel functions to litigation and transactional representation. His clients represent an expansive and diverse range of industries, and include healthcare providers, banks, franchises, food and industrial manufacturers and distributors, home warranty companies, restaurant chains, commercial real estate owners and managers, non-profits, trusts, estates, professional practices, and corporate executives. He has provided representation to attorneys, law firms, and members of the judiciary.
With more than 45 years of experience in the legal and business realms, Dan regularly provides counsel in strategic planning, business succession, sales, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures / collaborations, leasing, financing, licensing, employment, and entity governance. He has handled transactions ranging from the standard sale and purchase of a small business to far more complex deals requiring Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance. He has prepared and negotiated countless leasing transactions, including those involving multi-unit enterprises, and has represented commercial property owners and operators in myriad sales, financings, and acquisitions. His ability to add value to these transactions through creative structuring and productive negotiation has provided significant long-term benefits to his clients and their enterprises. As a Continuing Legal Education lecturer, he teaches a highly regarded practice seminar on business acquisitions to other transactional attorneys.
Dan also has an extraordinarily diverse range of litigation experience, acting as lead counsel in many matters including complex, multi-party commercial and corporate disputes; intra-ownership disputes, lender liability, work-outs and collections (including creditor representation in bankruptcy); leasing and other real property disputes; a wide range of employment matters (primarily defense) before state and federal agencies and courts; class actions; professional liability defense; and insurance coverage. Admitted to practice in the States of New Jersey and New York, he has appeared in the state and federal courts in both states at the trial and appellate levels and has been admitted pro hac vice to handle his client’s matters in many other states.
Dan’s wide range of experience has included his appointment as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and years as a volunteer arbitrator in the New Jersey Superior Court. He has lent his expertise and time as a trustee, supporter and volunteer to a number of non-profit institutions and public charities, including serving as Board Chairman at both the Dwight-Englewood School, an independent college preparatory (pre-K to 12) school, and The Community Chest serving Eastern Bergen County, New Jersey.
Dan has earned an AV® Peer Review Rating from Martindale Hubbell®, the highest rating for legal ability and general ethical standards.