The New Jersey State Bar Association is proud to announce a talented class of 14 fellows for the Association’s 2025–2026 Leadership Academy.
The fellows represent an accomplished assemblage of attorneys, spanning diverse practice areas in the private and public sectors. Through the academy, the group will attend a year of programming to develop leadership skills, including a wide array of classes on topics such as improving communication, the legislative process, public-sector law, issues confronting the profession, the New Jersey business landscape and more.
“Every year, the NJSBA has the privilege of welcoming a distinguished group of lawyers poised to advance as leaders in the profession. Through this academy, they will enhance their promising careers by gaining invaluable opportunities for career development, networking and professional education. The Association is proud to support these lawyers as they prepare to shape the future of the legal community,” NJSBA President Christine A. Amalfe said.
The class is expected to graduate in May at the NJSBA Annual Meeting and Convention in Atlantic City.
The NJSBA 2025–2026 Leadership Academy fellows are:
Samuel J. Berse, a family law and patent attorney with Berse Law LLC in Westfield. Berse is the treasurer of the Young Lawyers Division of the NJSBA and co-chair of the YLD Seminars Committee. He previously served as the New Jersey Bar Foundation Union County Mock Trial Coordinator.
Ehsan F. Chowdhry, solo practitioner and Certified Criminal Trial Attorney in Neptune, who focuses on criminal defense, domestic violence, expungements, juvenile law, municipal court-traffic, police investigations and white-collar crime. Chowdhry has held several within the NJSBA greater New Jersey bar. He is a former president of the New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association, a current Supreme Court appointee to the state Supreme Court Domestic Violence Working Group, former chair for the NJSBA's Commission on Racial Equity in the Law's Policing Subcommittee and former chair for the NJSBA's Certified Trial Section.
Magdalen Czykier, a Bergen County assistant prosecutor currently assigned to the civil unit. Czykier has served as an assistant prosecutor for over 15 years, previously in Essex and Hudson counties. She has experience with various units, including major crimes, special investigations, high tech crimes, grand jury and appellate. Her background also includes extensive involvement in prosecutor-led diversion programs.
Jacob P. Davidson, managing partner of Falk, Flotteron & Davidson, LLP in Woodbridge. Davidson leads a comprehensive civil litigation and real estate practice, representing clients in complex litigation, land use matters and transactional negotiations. He has earned Young Lawyer of the Year honors from the NJSBA and a 2022 Professional Achievement Award from the NJSBA Young Lawyers Division. He has distinguished himself as a leader in the legal profession through his service in numerous volunteer roles, including on the YLD Executive Committee and as an officer of the NJSBA Municipal Court Section.
Yvette Donaldson Brown, an associate at Eckert Seamans in Princeton. Brown’s practice focuses on commercial litigation matters including general liability, mass casualty and insurance defense, corporate litigation, franchise litigation and health care litigation. Brown is highly active not just in the NJSBA, but with the American Bar Association, where she works to develop programs to promote DEI initiatives. She is the chair of the NJSBA Pro Bono Committee and received the YLD’s 2025 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Award.
Melanie E. Getz, a labor and employment attorney at Fox Rothschild LLP in Princeton. Getz advises and defends employers in litigation, with a focus on wage-and-hour matters, discrimination and retaliation claims and disputes involving restrictive covenants and unfair competition. She is a trustee of the NJSBA’s Women in the Profession Section, and is a member of the Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Pre-Law Advisory Board and Sidney Reitman Employment Law American Inn of Court.
Ana Milena Goncalves, founder and owner of AMG Law, LLC, a family law practice in Paramus and New York City. Goncalves guides clients through domestic violence matters, child support and visitation issues and divorce. Prior to embarking on her legal career, she was a case worker with Lutheran Social Services in New York, where she assisted children in the foster care system and parents facing termination of their parental rights.
Wendy L. Hagen, an associate at associate at Gibbons P.C. in Newark. Her experience involves a wide range of matters relating to business law, including entity formation and maintenance, general contract drafting and negotiation, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and pre-litigation dispute resolution. She previously served as a corporate attorney at a medical device and life sciences company and managed corporate litigation matters.
Mark J. Heftler, who serves as AI legal director and arbitrator relations counsel at Forthright Solutions, an alternative dispute resolution provider. Heftler oversees the statewide arbitration program for New Jersey’s no-fault system, managing attorney arbitrators, compliance frameworks and legal-technical initiatives involving analytics and AI ethics. He has served in various public leadership roles, including as chairman of the Sussex County Board of Elections, investigator-presenter for the District XB Ethics Committee and Vernon Township Land Use Board member.
David C. Little, an assistant prosecutor with the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. Little has worked in various sections in the office since 2019 and now serves in the trial and community outreach units. His experience covers many areas, including homicide, gun and drug crimes and financial crimes. He currently serves as a trustee of the Atlantic County Bar Association.
Kyle A. Porro, owner of Porro Legal, LLC in Montclair. Porro’s practice ranges from land use applications to real estate tax appeals. He has represented both municipalities and private applicants, and has extensive experience providing pro bono legal services for tenants facing eviction. He is active in the YLD.
Bren Pramanik, legal director at Disability Rights New Jersey. Pramanik and their team engage in individual and systemic litigation, policy work and education to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in New Jersey. Prior to their work at Disability Rights New Jersey, they severed as an assistant deputy public defender for the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender.
Danielle Schweizer, a commercial litigator at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, PA in Woodbridge. Schweizer represents businesses and individuals in complex commercial disputes in both state and federal court. Her practice focuses on breach of contract, restrictive covenants, construction delay and defect, software and technology, real estate, fraud, corporate and shareholder disputes and breach of fiduciary duty. She is a member of the YLD Executive Committee and the Foundation’s Constitutionally Speaking Committee.
Eric Suggs, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton. Suggs prosecutes a wide range of cases, including violent crime, white-collar crime, fraud and tax offenses. He is also actively involved in the U.S. District Court’s Reentry Program in Trenton, helping individuals on supervised release successfully reintegrate into society.