Joseph M. Cerra is an appellate practitioner with a focus on the representation of severely injured plaintiffs on appeals, in addition to his practice of providing appellate counsel to commercial parties, fiduciaries such as bankruptcy trustees, and other parties seeking to defend or reverse significant verdicts through the appellate process. Because of his extensive knowledge of appellate practice, Joe is frequently retained by law firms to provide counsel and assistance at the trial level so that critical issues are properly preserved for appellate review.
He is graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill and the Fordham University School of Law, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Fordham International Law Journal. Upon graduation, Joe served a clerkship with the Honorable James H. Coleman, Jr., a Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division who was subsequently named to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Joe began his legal career at Shanley & Fisher, P.C., now known as Faegre Drinker, where he practiced commercial litigation for eight years before becoming a member of Forman Holt & Eliades LLC, where spent 20 years. He was also practiced commercial litigation at LeClairRyan, PLLC and K&L Gates LLP, before initiating his exclusive focus in appellate work in November 2018.
Joe served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Seton Hall University School of Law from 1997 through 2017, where he implemented and taught in class focusing in persuasive legal drafting. Before “retiring” from trial practice in 2014, Joe tried many cases to verdict in both the states and federal courts. Joe’s extensive experience as a trial attorney enhances his ability to counsel trial attorneys on how to avoid momentary trial lapses that could compromise a party’s right to pursue an issue on appeal.
While Joe studied law at Fordham, he also worked part-time as a sportswriter at the Elizabeth Daily Journal, where he received a number of awards for his writing. Working the track beat, he interviewed, and wrote articles about, many of the best track and field athletes in the world, including Carl Lewis, Eammon Coghlan, Edwin Moses, Renaldo “Skeets” Nehemiah, and Greg Foster. He covered the Seton Hall basketball team that eventually made the 1989 NCAA Tournament Finals. Joe remains a devoted follower of Fordham athletics, the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, and the New York Knicks – as well as the basketball team of his old high school, Roselle Catholic.