Robert J. Brass, Esq. is Of Counsel with the Law Firm of Goodgold, Feinberg & Bennett LLC, a multi-practice firm in Millburn (Essex County), concentrating his practice in the area of federal and state white collar criminal defense litigation; other federal, state and municipal court criminal litigation; federal civil rights 1983 litigation; public employment litigation; and, additional areas of civil litigation.
Mr. Brass is a former Deputy Attorney General with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, where he prosecuted insurance fraud, official corruption, public contract fraud, environmental crimes, organized crime racketeering/homicide, and threats to the judiciary. He is a former faculty member of the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute; and, was a member of the Attorney General's Shooting Response Team, which investigates police shootings.
Mr. Brass previously served as a Supervising Assistant Prosecutor in the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and an Assistant Prosecutor in Essex County Prosecutor's Office. His prosecutorial experience included homicide, arson, robbery, burglary, sexual assault, aggravated assault, white collar crimes, and drug related offenses.
Mr. Brass has been an active member of the New Jersey State Bar Association for over 35 years, presently serving on the Meeting Arrangements & Program (MAP) Standing Committee and the Senior Lawyers Special Committee, of which he is a former Chair.
Mr. Brass served as a Trustee of the New Jersey State Bar Association, from 2008 to 2014; and, served as the New Jersey State Bar Association's representative on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Model Criminal Jury Charges from 2011-2013. Mr. Brass is a Past Chair of the State Bar Criminal Law Section, presently serving on that Section's Board of Trustees; and, served as on a criminal law panel at the NJSBA Mid-Year Meeting.
In September 2022, Mr. Brass was honored by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education of the State Bar Association, when he was presented with the Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Continuing Legal Education.
In November 2023, Mr. Brass returned to Paris to moderate and speak on the Criminal Law Panel, at the NJSBA Mid-Year Meeting. In November 2019, Mr. Brass spoke at the NJSBA Mid-Year Meeting, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the topic of Hot Tips for Litigators - How to improve your Criminal case through motion practice. In 2018, Mr. Brass returned to Rome to moderate and speak at the NJSBA's Mid-Year Meeting Criminal Educational Track Program. In 2017, Mr. Brass was the moderator of the "Criminal Law through Spanish Eyes panel, in Madrid. In 2015, Mr. Brass moderated a panel, in New Orleans, on Prosecuting and Defending the Police Officer. In 2014, Mr. Brass moderated a panel, in Paris, France on the topic of Bail Reform and Speedy Trial Issues, at the NJSBA Mid-Year Meeting. In 2013, Mr. Brass was a panelist, in Rome, Italy on the topic of Forfeiture and Debarment in criminal cases. In 2011, Mr. Brass lectured in Dublin, Ireland on the topic of White Collar Crime and Money Laundering; and, in 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada on the topic of Prosecutorial Misconduct.
Mr. Brass is a frequent moderator and lecturer for continuing legal education courses for attorneys for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education and the New Jersey State Bar Association, having acted as the Criminal Track Coordinator for the NJSBA Annual and Mid-Year Meetings.
While in his former capacity as a Deputy Attorney General with the NJ Division of Criminal Justice, Mr. Brass served on the faculty of the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute, teaching trial advocacy courses to Deputy Attorneys General and Assistant County Prosecutors; and, served on the faculty of the National Association of Attorneys General White Collar Crime Trial Program at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Mr. Brass is admitted to practice before the Superior Courts of the State of New Jersey, the Municipal Courts of New Jersey; and, before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Brass has been qualified in the Superior Court of New Jersey as an expert in the field of polygraph examinations; and, was a former supervisor of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Polygraph Unit. He has lectured on that topic at Seton Hall and Rutgers Law Schools, as well as at national polygraph seminars, continuing legal education seminars and at training seminars to law enforcement officers.
Mr. Brass received his B.A. from Seton Hall University and his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.