Top Rated Employment Attorney in New Jersey, New Jersey

Meet Chris Lenzo

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i chose to become a lawyer for two broad

sets of reasons one related to

um the service provided to clients and

one set of reasons related more to what

I saw as my strengths as an individual

in terms of my personality so in terms

of you know service to clients I wanted

to help people i didn’t want to

represent entities i didn’t want to

represent businesses or the government i

wanted to represent individual human

beings and I wanted to help people who

were in a position where they were at a

disadvantage and needed somebody to help

equalize the playing field for them u

and so I wanted to help the underdog i’m

one of those people who has always

rooted for the underdog i particularly

feel strongly

about folks who maybe feel like they’re

outsiders or they’ve been excluded um

and so civil rights law really appealed

to me in that regard it gives me the

opportunity to um advocate on behalf of

folks who are generally at an extreme

power disadvantage compared to the large

employers that they work for the folks

we’re representing have usually been

treated as outsiders in some regard you

know whether it’s in terms of being an

outsider racially or ethnically or

religiously or because of a disability

or an outsider because they’re the

squeaky wheel who refuse to go along

with unlawful or unethical conduct and

blew the whistle um so from that

perspective those were sort of the

principled reasons that I got involved

in the law i also chose the law because

I felt that it fit me well personally

um I’ve always liked to argue from the

time I was a child i like making oral

presentations

um it’s a socially acceptable outlet for

my more aggressive impulses and I wanted

to do something where I could be my own

boss if I wanted to um where I would

have that opportunity uh which is what

I’ve ended up doing for most of my

career so obviously you know those

reasons don’t necessarily have to do

with

um the law specifically but they have to

do with why law was a good fit for me

and I also chose employment law in

addition to the reasons I gave a few

minutes ago because it’s a developing

area of law there are a lot of cutting

edge issues that are interesting and you

have the opportunity to make new law you

have the opportunity to be creative as a

lawyer it’s not the same cookie cutter

approach as you might have in some other

areas of law where everything has been

cut and dried for decades or even

centuries and you’re just doing the same

thing over and over again

[Music]

in terms of scholarly lectures or

writings that I’ve done uh in connection

with my practice

I’ve given speaking engagements uh in

the context of what are called

continuing legal education seminars for

other lawyers uh going back to I think

the second year that I was practicing in

the mid 1990s um you know at this point

I’ve probably spoken

at close to a 100 seminars in terms of

writing I haven’t written as many uh

articles but recently I’ve written two

articles addressing what has become sort

of a a cutting edge and troubling uh

trend at the US Supreme Court in terms

of the court trying to carve out

essentially religious exceptions to

anti-discrimination laws particularly in

the context of legal protections for

folks who are gay or lesbian are

bisexual or transsexual and the US

Supreme Court is using the

constitutional right to free exercise of

religion as sort of a sword that

employers who profess to be religious

can use to attack employees who may be

gay or or or bisexual or lesbian or

transsexual and they can then hide

behind the shield that well we’re we’re

doing this because uh it’s our sincerely

held religious belief and so uh I’ve

written on how that’s sort of a slippery

slope that if we’re going to start

saying that people can start

disregarding generally applicable laws

simply because of their religious

beliefs it ends up with there being no

laws because everybody’s going to decide

for themselves based on their religion

what laws they follow and what laws they

don’t

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Morristown, NJ employment law attorney Chris Lenzo talks about why he became a lawyer as well as the scholarly lectures and writings he’s done. He states that he chose to become a lawyer for two primary reasons: a desire to serve clients and an alignment between the work and his personal strengths. From a service perspective, he wanted to help individual clients rather than represent corporations or government entities. He was particularly drawn to assisting individuals who faced disadvantages and needed an advocate to level the playing field. He has always rooted for the underdog and felt a strong commitment to those who have been marginalized or excluded—whether due to race, ethnicity, religion, disability, or because they challenged unlawful or unethical conduct as whistleblowers. Civil rights and employment law, in particular, provided the opportunity to advocate for individuals who were often at a significant power disadvantage compared to large employers.

From a personal perspective, law aligned with his natural abilities and interests. He has always enjoyed argumentation and oral presentations, and the legal profession offered a socially acceptable outlet for his assertive tendencies. Additionally, the profession allowed him the opportunity to be independent and make his own decisions—a path he has largely followed throughout his career. Employment law further appealed to him because it is a dynamic, developing area of practice. It offers opportunities to address cutting-edge issues, create new legal precedents, and exercise creativity rather than relying on established, repetitive approaches.

In addition to his practice, he has engaged in scholarly activities. He has delivered nearly 100 continuing legal education seminars for other lawyers since the mid-1990s. While he has written fewer articles, he recently authored two pieces addressing a concerning trend at the U.S. Supreme Court: the use of religious exemptions as a defense to anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ employees. He critically analyzes how employers may invoke sincerely held religious beliefs to justify actions that would otherwise violate anti-discrimination laws, cautioning that such precedents risk undermining the uniform application of laws.

Top Rated Employment Attorney in New Jersey, New Jersey

Meet Chris Lenzo

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