Hamilton Township, NJ

Barry D. Cohen

Mr. Cohen is a founding partner and Of Counsel, focusing on civil litigation, personal injury, maritime, product liability, professional negligence, and construction accident claims for over 40 years. He is certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Civil Trial Attorney since 2001. He co-founded Academic Activists (NJPIRG) and was a member of the Columbia School of Law Catholic University of America Law Review. He has been named to the NJ Super Lawyers list for personal injury multiple times.

Susan Petro

Ms. Petro is a founding partner and Of Counsel, working with the Personal Injury Department. She is bilingual in English and Spanish. She is a former President of the Atlantic County Bar Association and served as a master in the Vincent S. Haneman America Inn of Court. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University and a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law. She received a Distinguished rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Gerald D. Siegel

I was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey where I graduated from Victor Mravlag School 21, Hamilton Junior High School and Thomas Jefferson High School in 1971. I loved baseball, Mickey Mantle, the Yankees and I played in the Elizabethport Little League. In my junior year of high school, a friend showed me a catalogue from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I fell in love with the images of the campus primarily because it looked “like college is supposed to.” So, in the fall of 1971, at age 17, a year after the Beatles broke up and with Rod Stewarts’ “Maggie May” on the 8 track tape deck, I went off to Athens, Ohio into an eye opening world that I had never before experienced. At OU, I studied Political Science and took some interesting courses from some great professors. I met new people and learned about the Midwest and about the poor in Appalachia. My Ohio University experiences helped build my philosophy and values about justice and fairness for the vulnerable and less fortunate. I give a lot of credit to Professors Roger Schaefer, Sung Ho Kim, Ron Hunt, Jim Tilling, Dean McWilliams and Edgar Whan. After graduation from OU, I moved to New England and went to law school in the sleepy little village of South Royalton, Vermont at Vermont Law School. I was a member of the third graduating class in 1978. We began classes in July of 1975. The first case that we studied, as a class, assigned by Professor Gene Shreve, was a product liability case called Bertha Chisky vs. Drake’s Cake’s. For a new school, we had very bright professors, drawn for the most part from the Ivy Leagues law schools. Most were only a few years older than us and they challenged us. I give credit to our late Dean, Tom Debevoise, who brought in these young professors and built a strong foundation on which VLS flourishes today. The senior professor who he signed as a “free agent” was Ralph Bischoff, age 72, who had to retire from NYU Law School due to his age. NYU’s loss was VLS’ gain as he brought a lot of experience and credibility to the school. Other fine professors were David Firestone, Peter Teachout and Stephen Dycus, and Ken Kreiling who are still teaching at VLS. Law school was hard, but it gave me a model for problem solving and taught me how “to think like a lawyer.” I am very grateful for the wonderful education I received at Vermont Law School. After graduation, I moved to Central New Jersey, took the bar exam and became licensed in the New Jersey State Courts and the New Jersey Federal Courts on December 6, 1978. I started my career doing insurance defense work, that is, defending cases brought by accident victims and I got a lot of trial experience in those years. I also learned how insurance companies and defense attorneys attack and evaluate the claims of injured people. I did mostly defense work for the first half of my career and then decided that I wanted to carry over what I learned to help people who were hurt due to the fault of others. The professional accomplishment which I value the most is my Certification by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Lawyer. I suppose it is validation for my hard work, trial experience and recognition by our New Jersey Supreme Court, for which I have so much respect. I obtained it in order to demonstrate to my clients that I had the commitment to obtain a credential which they could value and to give them a competitive advantage in the handling of their case. I am also member of the Middlesex County Bar Association and the New Jersey Association for Justice. I also served on the Middlesex County District Ethics Committee and I currently serve on the Civil Lawyers Committee in Middlesex County. I am also an approved by the Superior Court to arbitrate personal injury cases in Middlesex and Mercer Counties. I have been retained by other attorneys in the personal injury field to mediate personal injury cases. On the community side of things, I served as a Judge in the Vermont Law School Moot Court Competition, the Middlesex county Mock Trial Program and the Princeton University Mock Trial Competition. My biggest accomplishment in life is my family. I am married and have three accomplished children. I live in Plainsboro and I have coached more than 35 seasons of recreational soccer, basketball and baseball for my kids and other children in the community. I enjoy the challenge of helping people navigate the medical and legal process of a personal injury case. I enjoy working with medical professionals and using the medical evidence to prove an injury.

Richard W. Gaeckle

Mr. Gaeckle is a Shareholder/Managing Attorney in the Personal Injury Department with over 20 years of litigation and trial experience. He handles various personal injury cases. He graduated from St. Peter’s College and New York Law School. He served as Co-Chair of the Construction Section of the New Jersey Bar Association and is LEED Accredited Professional. He has received an AV Rating by Martindale-Hubbell and recognition by New Jersey Super Lawyers.

Seymour E. Siegel

My father, Sy was a great dad and role model. He was a highly skilled attorney and, in his prime, he was one of the most well regarded trial lawyers in the state. He was a tough but ethical adversary. He was born in the Bronx during the Great Depression. As a teenager, to earn money to help my immigrant grandparents pay the bills, he played the trumpet in various dance bands and spent his summers playing in the resorts of the Catskill Mountains. He graduated from Evander Childs High School in the Bronx and from The College of the City of New York where he studied Economics. He served in the US Army during World War Two, in the European Theatre of Operations from 1942 to 1945, where he received two Purple Hearts. After the war, while working a full time job, he earned his law degree from Rutgers Law School in 1950. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1952 and was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1958. My father tried over 1,000 civil cases. He and my mother, Elaine instilled within me the values which I hold fast to today: family, honesty and hard work.

Frank A. Petro

Mr. Petro is a founding partner and Of Counsel, heading the Workers’ Compensation Department with 45+ years of experience. He is certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Workers’ Compensation Law Attorney since 1998. He has been named to Best Lawyers in America for 28 consecutive years and Super Lawyers since 2005. He holds an "AV" rating from Martindale-Hubbell and a "Superb" rating from AVVO. He is a former President of The Justice James H. Coleman, Jr. New Jersey Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court and a National Trustee for the American Inns of Court Foundation.

Michael Veneziani

Mr. Veneziani is a Shareholder at Petro Cohen, P.C., with more than 15 years of legal experience, focusing exclusively on personal injury cases. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Joseph’s University in 2001 and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the same university. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Widener University School of Law in 2007. He was a student attorney with the Widener Law Bankruptcy Clinic and a law clerk for Hon. Lee A. Solomon. He is admitted to the bars of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.