John S. Avery, Esq.

The police must operate within legal bounds. When they do not, someone has to know the procedural posture well enough to push back.

— John S. Avery — practice philosophy

John S. Avery, Esq. leads the criminal defense and constitutional-rights practice at Avery & Avery, Esqs. A Seton Hall University School of Law graduate (J.D. 2012) and member of the New Jersey Bar since 2012, John brings a focused trial-practice voice to a generalist firm — sharply attentive to where police conduct, search-and-seizure procedure, and prosecutorial discretion can decide a case before the State has finished discovery.

If you have been arrested, ticketed, charged, or stopped — and you suspect the police may have overstepped — John is the attorney to call. (201) 943-2445 for a free first consultation.

At a Glance

Practice Philosophy — Constitutional Defense Against Police Overreach

John believes that police overreach is more common than it should be — and that effective criminal defense requires an attorney willing to mount the constitutional fight when the facts call for it. He provides passionate defenses against unjust criminal and drug prosecutions and against any matter where law enforcement has overstepped legal boundaries.

The framing is constitutional, not partisan. Police officers do necessary and difficult work, and like every public servant they must operate within legal bounds. When a stop, search, arrest, or interrogation crosses those bounds, the remedy is a Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Sixth Amendment, or NJ State Constitutional challenge filed in court — not a public complaint. John’s docket reflects that approach.

His routine practice includes:

• Probable-cause challenges to traffic stops under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), State v. Locurto, 157 N.J. 463 (1999), and the body of NJ “reasonable suspicion” case law
• Search-and-seizure suppression motions under the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Paragraph 7 of the NJ Constitution
• Refusal counseling under State v. Marquez, 202 N.J. 485 (2010), and State v. Spell, 196 N.J. 537 (2008) — including the “Standard Statement was not read verbatim” line of defense
• Alcotest 7110 foundation challenges under State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008) — the 12-step foundation requirement
• Drug-possession defenses under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10, including schedule-classification arguments and search-incident-to-arrest scope challenges
• Pretrial Intervention (PTI) and Conditional Discharge eligibility analysis at intake
• Expungements of arrests, indictable convictions, disorderly persons convictions, and municipal-ordinance convictions

Education and Credentials

• Seton Hall University School of Law, J.D. 2012 — Newark, NJ. Seton Hall Law is one of New Jersey’s two ABA-accredited law schools and a consistent feeder for NJ trial practice.
• Admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 2012 (year of first admission per Martindale, ISLN 1000306216).
• Areas of practice publicly registered at Martindale: Criminal Law, DUI / DWI, Domestic Violence, Divorce / Family Law, Estate Planning, Elder Law, Real Estate, Municipal Law (eight areas — broader than the typical Bergen criminal-defense roster).

Practice Areas

John’s docket is concentrated in three areas:

Criminal Defense — Municipal and Superior Court

From disorderly persons offenses (DP) and petty disorderly persons offenses (PDP) heard in municipal courts, through third- and fourth-degree indictable charges at the Bergen, Hudson, and Essex County Justice Centers, John handles the full Title 2C criminal docket. Read more about our criminal defense practice →

DWI / DUI Defense

DWI under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 and refusal under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.4a are frequent matters in John’s calendar. Foundation challenges to the Alcotest 7110, 20-minute observation rule violations, and probable-cause arguments are part of the standard defense kit. Read more about our DWI practice →

Constitutional / Civil Rights Trial Work

The constitutional dimension that John brings to every criminal matter — the close reading of the police narrative, the Mapp / Wong Sun analysis of derived evidence, the Miranda v. Arizona questioning posture — is the differentiator that defines this practice.

Other Practice Areas

John also handles domestic violence matters (TRO/FRO), divorce and family law, estate planning, elder law, real estate, and municipal law matters as part of the firm’s generalist trial-practice model.

Where John Practices

John appears regularly at the Bergen County Justice Center (Hackensack, Superior Court Criminal Division), the Central Municipal Court of Bergen County (71 Hudson Street, Hackensack), the William J. Brennan Courthouse (Jersey City — Hudson Superior Court), the Newark Municipal Court and Essex County Veterans Courthouse, and the Paterson Municipal Court and Passaic County Superior Court. He also handles matters in the individual Bergen and Hudson municipal courts as the firm’s Bergen-rooted practice requires.

How John Works

When John is assigned your file, you get the constitutional-trial treatment from intake — not from the eve of trial. The first consultation will surface the suppression questions that may decide the case before the State has finished discovery. Where a charge will likely plea out, John will tell you that. Where there is a real constitutional question worth fighting, he will work it.

John handles every appearance, every motion, and every plea negotiation in matters he leads. There is no junior-associate first appearance — you get the lawyer you hired.

Schedule a Free Consultation with John

Call (201) 943-2445 or submit your matter through the consultation form. Same-business-day response. After hours, leave a voicemail — John returns calls promptly the next morning, and for arrests we make same-evening callbacks where the timing requires it.