Mario Russo focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, with a primary emphasis on complex insurance matters. He has spent over a decade helping corporate policyholder clients, ranging from Fortune 50 companies to start-ups, navigate issues arising from virtually every type of first-party and third-party insurance, including general liability, directors and officers, errors and omissions, employment practices liability, cyber, workers compensation, property and business interruption. He handles matters arising in both state and federal court and represents clients in arbitration and mediation proceedings. Mario’s efforts have helped clients secure hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance proceeds.
Mario helps clients identify and assess their potential risks, analyze new insurance products and consider the adequacy of their existing insurance programs. He also counsels clients purchasing insurance coverage and reviews existing and prospective insurance policies to determine whether they meet clients’ needs.
Mario prides himself on keeping apprised of insurance matters important to both existing and emerging industries. He has co-authored numerous articles on cutting-edge insurance coverage issues, which have appeared in various professional publications, and contributed to several leading insurance law treatises. Mario also serves as a member of the firm’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Task Force and Cannabis Industry Group, where he contributes to the Firm’s multi-disciplinary approaches to addressing and resolving cybersecurity issues and those impacting the cannabis industry. He also speaks regularly on insurance coverage topics.
Mario is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary organization of attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Mario also recently served on Law360’s Insurance Authority General Liability Editorial Advisory Board.
Mario currently chairs the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Insurance Law Section, offering thought leadership on emerging insurance coverage topics and legislation. Mario also holds numerous leadership positions within the American Bar Association (ABA), currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of Tortsource, an ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) publication. He also serves as a Vice-Chair of both the ABA TIPS Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee and the ABA TIPS Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Committee, as an Associate Editor of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, and on the ABA TIPS Content Management & Member Services Committee.
Mario cares deeply about, and remains committed to, public service, pro bono work and his community. He dedicates significant time each year to representing clients pro bono, having partnered with Volunteer Lawyers for Justice to assist individual policyholders with their insurance coverage claims and disputes. Mario has also partnered with the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, which provides legal assistance to unrepresented veterans with appeals pending at the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and with Philadelphia VIP, an organization providing pro bono legal assistance to low-income residents, small businesses and nonprofit organizations in the greater Philadelphia area. In his spare time, Mario has served as a writing instructor for NJ LEEP, a college access and success program serving first-generation and socioeconomically disadvantaged students living in the greater Newark area.
