Succeeding as a trial attorney often comes down to who can tell the better story.
Norberto A. Garcia approaches each case with that goal in mind.
“Really, lawyers are frustrated actors. Being a trial lawyer is like putting on a production. You’re getting the actors, writing the script, the effects. If you’re successful, that show never gets performed because you resolve the case, but you’re prepared regardless,” Garcia said.
If Garcia had to make the case to a jury for why he should lead the New Jersey State Bar Association, his story would carry the day. In addition to a thriving personal injury practice, he has devoted years of service to the profession – as president of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the Hudson County Bar Association, chair of the New Jersey Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection, and a master in the Hudson County Inns of Court. Most notably, he will become the first foreign-born president in the Association’s 126-year history when he takes the oath on Thursday at the NJSBA Annual Meeting in Atlantic City.
Garcia’s rise is an immigrant success story that long predates his selection to lead the state’s largest organization of legal professionals. He credits much of that success to avoiding complacency.
“Anything that comes too easily is not worth getting, and when things become too comfortable, it starts to age you,” Garcia said. “The key to staying young – mentally, spiritually, physically – is to have a certain level of discomfort.”
He sees the presidency as his next challenge.
“I love the idea that being out there volunteering for committees and organizations keeps you young and engaged,” he said. “At this point, I like to think I have some experience and wisdom to offer.”
Outgoing NJSBA President Christine A. Amalfe agreed that Garcia’s breadth of experience across nearly every facet of the profession – from trial practice to leadership at both the county and state bar level – has given him a rare, 360-degree understanding of how the legal system operates and how best to serve its lawyers. As she concludes her term, she expressed full confidence in his ability to take the reins and further advance the Association’s mission.
“I have complete confidence in his judgment, his steady leadership and his commitment to the members of this Association. I know he will serve as an exceptional president,” Amalfe said.
Law partner
Garcia practices as a partner at Blume, Forte, Zerres, Molinari, Makowicz, Elwood, Zenna & Feldman, PC, where he handles a wide range of personal injury matters, including automobile and construction accidents, premises liability and medical malpractice cases.
A typical day can take him in many directions, but it always starts early. He’s up by 4 a.m. and at one of the firm’s offices – Chatham, Jersey City or North Bergen – by 5:30 a.m. The early hours are reserved for what he calls “fishing,” the practice of clearing out residual tasks from the previous day by sending emails and making calls, and then catching the responses later on.
From there the day unfolds quickly with depositions, conferences, discovery issues, client communications and coordinating with experts. At any given time, Garcia manages roughly 100 to 150 active cases, each at a different stage. He relies on a disciplined system to ensure he touches every case file at least once a week.
Jeffrey J. Zenna, a longtime colleague of Garcia’s at Blume Forte, said his reputation in the profession is unparalleled and that he is known for exceptional preparation across all facets of the law, along with a relentless commitment to his work and advocacy for lawyers and litigants.
“There are very few lawyers I know who are as prepared as he is, especially in the courtroom,” Zenna said. “He has the ability to connect with people on a level most can’t, and despite everything he’s accomplished, he remains a very humble person.”
Garcia’s guiding principle is simple: “do the next right thing.”
“You have to make a good effort at whatever your next task is,” Garcia said. “Those immediate successes turn into long-term success. It’s also the best way to stay present.”
Family life is central to how Garcia stays grounded and present. He lives in Kinnelon with his wife, Heidi, and their twin sons, Andrew and Alexander, both undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania, where Garcia earned his law degree. He is grounded by the stability of his family life – a world apart from his early beginnings.
Coming to America
Born in Cuba, Garcia left at a young age as his family fled the Castro regime in the early 1970s, hoping to reunite with relatives in the United States. He has no memory of Cuba, but recalls attending grammar school in Madrid after traveling there at age 5. At the time, U.S. policy restricted direct immigration from Cuba, forcing many families to take indirect paths.
After the detour, his mother secured a hardship visa to visit her dying father, allowing the family to come to the United States and settle with relatives in Jackson Heights, Queens, before eventually moving to North Bergen.
“I always felt like an outsider coming from an immigrant family,” Garcia said.
That feeling was magnified in school. Unbeknownst to him, his parents sent him to grammar school without speaking English. For years he struggled to communicate with classmates, only later understanding why.
At home, Garcia’s father was a driven accountant at Inter American Cosmetics in Carlstadt, where Garcia and many of his relatives also worked in various roles, from warehouse inventory to making deliveries into Manhattan.
“That’s where I learned the value of work,” he said.
The family built a comfortable life in North Bergen, with trips to Europe and Miami Beach. But that stability was shattered when Garcia’s father died while he was a sophomore in high school. His mother continued working at the warehouse and ultimately put Garcia and his sister through college, a sacrifice that remains a touchstone for him.
“Whenever I think I’m having a bad day,” Garcia said, “I think about what my mom went through, having left her country not 10 years earlier and now raising two young kids.”
Growing up in Hudson County, Garcia often describes it as feeling like the center of the universe in the most densely populated county in the most densely populated state, filled with people from every background and culture. Within a five-mile radius there were nearly a dozen high schools and a constant sense of competition and community.
He recalls one early experience that foreshadowed his eventual path into the law. As a grammar school student, Garcia visited the Hudson County Courthouse – a building that would later become central to his professional life – as part of a civic program where he was named “sheriff for a day.”
“I remember a judge saying, ‘Don’t be intimidated by this courtroom. This courthouse is here for you. The people who work here serve the people of Hudson County. Don’t ever be afraid to come, watch a trial or show up for jury duty,” Garcia recalled.
Pathways to the law
Garcia knew he wanted to be a lawyer long before he fully understood what a lawyer did.
“As an immigrant, even though my dad was successful, there were many times where I felt we were being taken advantage of,” he said. “From small things like getting your car towed because you were partially over a driveway, or a tow truck driver taking cash from my mom. I never wanted to feel uncomfortable in a situation or walk into a room and feel intimidated. I figured being a lawyer would give me the skills, the knowledge, the qualifications to walk in any room with confidence and not feel powerless. Lawyers knew how to navigate the system and the law, and I wanted to use that knowledge to help my family and others.”
Garcia graduated from high school and took a practical approach to what came next. He enrolled at Seton Hall University, initially majoring in political science before switching to history during his sophomore year. The decision was shaped as much by circumstance as ambition. He never seriously considered a college he couldn’t commute to, which narrowed his options significantly. Even Rutgers University felt too far away. His plan was simple: do well in college and use that foundation to get into a strong law school.
To make it work, Garcia balanced academics with a demanding work schedule. He took a job in security at UPS, where long, quiet shifts at the desk became time to study and stay on top of coursework. At the same time, he built a second identity on nights and weekends as “DJ Norby,” hauling crates of records, turntables and a self-built light show to party gigs, school dances and even political events. The work helped pay the bills, but it also sharpened an instinct for reading a room – an ability that would later translate naturally into the courtroom.
Seton Hall also gave him an early entry point into the legal world. Through a program that allowed students to earn academic credit for work experience, Garcia spent his junior year working at Pressler and Pressler, a debt collection firm in East Hanover. The job offered a hands-on introduction to civil procedure and the day-to-day mechanics of a law office.
“For me, it was the perfect place at the time,” Garcia later reflected. “If I went away to college, I don’t think I would have gotten the same experience that prepared me for law school.”
That preparation paid off. After graduating with strong grades, Garcia was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Once again, he was out of his comfort zone. Accustomed to standing out academically, he suddenly found himself among peers with deep legal pedigrees and whose families included generations of lawyers, judges and professors. The shift was jarring, he said.
“I went from being a big fish in a small pond to the opposite,” Garcia said.
Out of roughly 200 students in his class, only about 10 were Hispanic. But as he had done before, Garcia adapted. He became president of the Latin American Law Students Association, helping build a small but tight-knit community within the larger law school.
Finding his niche
In law school, he envisioned himself as an appellate advocate. But experience soon reshaped that vision.
“Law school teaches you how to be a law professor, not a practicing lawyer,” he said.
After graduating, Garcia began his career at a firm in New York City handling federal appeals – work that aligned with his original ambitions and schooling – but kept him at a distance from the direct client contact he would later come to value. Around the same time, people from his neighborhood began reaching out to him for help with legal issues. Unable to take on those matters at his firm, Garcia found himself at a crossroads: stay on an appellate track or shift to a practice that would bring him closer to his community.
He chose the latter, moving to a personal injury firm in New Jersey.
The transition was not an easy one, as trial work required a level of public speaking and courtroom presence that, at the time, did not come naturally to him.
“I didn’t think I would succeed as a trial lawyer,” he admits. “I wasn’t confident speaking in front of other people.”
But the profession’s flexibility worked in his favor. Garcia immersed himself in litigation and began to see that many of the skills he had developed over time – adaptability, communication and the ability to move between different environments – were exactly what trial practice demanded.
“We’re lucky that this profession allows you to switch gears,” he says. “I found that I was really good at wearing multiple hats.”
He developed strong relationships with clients, many of them Spanish speaking. In court he learned to shift between roles, using a precise, analytical voice when speaking to judges, and a more conversational, grounded style when addressing juries.
“I could speak to the jury and sound like a regular person,” he says.
Those who know Garcia best say his approach is defined by how he sees the big picture and what he chooses to do with it.
“He has a broad-based perspective and can see where things fit into the general scheme. That’s a very unique gift,” Frederick D. Miceli, a longtime colleague, said. “His worldview is simple: acquire as much knowledge, experience and wisdom as you can and then pass it on to everyone else.”
Garcia ultimately found a professional home at Blume Forte, where he built his career as a trial lawyer. After 15 years, however, he stepped away to start his own solo practice – a move that tested him in new ways.
“Those five years were the most exciting, exhilarating, scary times in my life,” he says. “On your own, it’s all on you.”
Beyond practicing law, he was suddenly responsible for every aspect of running a business, from hiring staff to choosing software and office space. He embraced the challenge, but over time the demands began to take a toll, pulling him away from family and stretching his meticulous nature too thin. He eventually returned to firm life, spending time elsewhere before coming back to Blume Forte.
Along the way, Garcia built a reputation for preparation and persistence. One standout case – a slip-and-fall matter rejected by three other attorneys – underscored that approach. Despite a police report that appeared to blame his client, Garcia uncovered a key inconsistency during cross-examination that helped shift the narrative. The jury ultimately returned a $900,000 verdict in his client’s favor.
“It’s funny how sometimes the best things come to you when you’re not overthinking,” he says. “But that only happens if you’re prepared enough to pivot.”
Ready to serve
That ability to pivot – honed through years in both large firms and solo practice – has helped position Garcia to lead the NJSBA with a broad and practical perspective.
“I know the lay of the land fairly well,” he said. “You could practice for 40 years and not understand how things really work – how someone becomes a judge, how a bill moves, how a rule gets changed. I’ve been exposed to enough to understand the moving parts and how they fit.”
That exposure has given him a working knowledge of the profession’s many facets and the confidence that he can help guide its direction.
“At this point in my life, I think I have the experience and perspective to help advise where we should be going,” he says.
Garcia describes joining the state bar as one of the most important decisions of his career. His pitch for other attorneys is that the organization serves as the profession’s unifying thread.
“You may be in a great firm or part of a strong county or affinity bar,” he said, “but the state bar is where it all comes together. It’s where you can bring your experience and make the greatest impact.”
As president, Garcia plans to focus on two core themes. First, he wants to view every initiative – whether legislative or regulatory – through the lens of attorney well-being and with an eye toward avoiding additional burdens on an already strained profession. Second, he is intent on rebuilding a sense of community that he believes has eroded in recent years, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. With more attorneys working remotely – many in solo or small firm settings – opportunities for connection have diminished.
“I want the state bar to step into that space,” he says. “A lot of the places where we used to connect are gone. We have to rebuild that.”
For Garcia, the stakes are high. He sees the loss of community, compounded by growing political division, as one of the greatest challenges facing the profession today.
“Breaking bread together is one of the best ways to keep people cohesive,” he said.
Reflecting on his journey – from an immigrant child to the leader of the state’s largest legal organization – Garcia views his presidency as both a personal milestone and a testament to opportunity. He can never become the U.S. president, but NJSBA president is a nice consolation.
“Immigration is what makes America great,” he said. “In very few places can you come as a stranger and rise to something like this. I’m honored to bring whatever gifts I have to this role.”