John E. Keefe, Jr.

About John

John E. Keefe, Jr. is a Certified Civil Trial Attorney specializing in personal injury and environmental torts. He is the owner and managing partner of the Keefe Law Firm, a civil litigation firm located in Red Bank, New Jersey and founded in 2004. Admitted to the bar in 1990, John has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of civil trial law, devoting his career primarily to representing victims of catastrophic loss and toxic exposures. Throughout his years of practice, John has tried numerous matters to verdict and has prosecuted hundreds of cases on behalf of victims of personal injury, with notable representations including the resolution of a complex wrongful death case on behalf of a young widow and her children against New Jersey Transit for $10,000,000.00. In his civil trial practice, John has significant experience in consumer fraud and class action matters. Namely, he was appointed by the Superior Court as Plaintiff’s Liaison Counsel in the historic consumer fraud class action Talalai v. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (Docket No. MID-L-8830-00-MT), the settlement of which is valued between $1,000,000,000 and $3,000,000,000 for those affected. John also served as local counsel in the class action In Re Sears, Roebuck & Co. Securities Litigation (Docket No. 02-C-07527), which resulted in a $215,000,000 cash settlement. He has led or co-lead in numerous other eight and nine figure consumer class actions. John is a fierce litigator whose passion for the law is rivaled only by his dedication to achieving justice for his clients. As the son of a judge who was instrumental at the inception of statewide asbestos litigation, John has spent his career well-acquainted with the ways in which toxic chemical exposure affects both the lives of individuals, and the environment at large. He served as lead counsel for plaintiffs in one of the largest pollution actions in New Jersey’s history, James v. Ciba Geigy Corporation (Docket No. MID-L- 1669-01-MT), a case which addressed decades of improper disposal of toxic waste that had a disastrous impact on the environment, and specifically upon public water sources. Over the last several years, John has kept up this fight. He has been and remains at the forefront of the steadily growing PFAS litigation, and currently represents hundreds of firefighters and municipalities who have been affected by exposure to AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam), a product used for decades by firefighters and military personnel that is known to contain carcinogenic chemicals. Due to the negligence of the chemical manufacturers responsible for the creation and distribution of AFFF, those exposed are being diagnosed with severe illnesses. Jointly, after decades of widespread usage of AFFF, it has contaminated municipal drinking water with carcinogens, subjecting entire communities to an increased risk of cancer. With his decades of experience in environmental torts, John is unrelenting in his mission to force accountability; not only for the individuals whose lives have been unfairly uprooted by serious diagnoses, but also for towns and cities across New Jersey and nationwide who are now responsible for the extremely costly remediation processes necessary to ensure safe drinking water for their citizens. John is a proud Central Jerseyan, born and raised in Middlesex County and a 30-year resident of Monmouth County. As such, he is a dedicated member of his New Jersey legal community. As a Past President of the New Jersey State Bar Association, he dedicated his term to advocating for increased diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and spearheaded the creation of a mentoring program to assist young lawyers. He is a member of the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey, for which he served as president from 2007-2008, the Middlesex County Bar Association, the Monmouth County Bar Association, Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, and the American Association for Justice. John currently serves on Governor Phil Murphy’s Judicial Advisory Committee, and in 2020 co-chaired New Jersey Lawyers for Joe Biden. John graduated from St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen, New Jersey, and earned his undergraduate degree in English Literature from Gettysburg College. He received his juris doctorate from the Seton Hall University School of Law. When he isn’t taking to task polluters or insurance companies, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three sons. He loves the Jersey Shore, Bruce Springsteen, The New York Yankees, and the New York Football Giants.

Licensed States

Education

Colleagues at Keefe Law Firm

Hon. C. Judson Hamlin

Of Counsel

Hon. John E. Keefe, Sr.

Of Counsel

Judge Marlene Lynch Ford

Of Counsel

Judge Dennis R. O’Brien

Of Counsel

Paul DiGiorgio

Counsel

Stephen T. Sullivan, Jr.

Partner