Essex County Lawyers — Serving All 22 Essex Municipalities

A Former Judge. A Father-Son Trial Firm. Fifty Years of New Jersey Practice.

Avery & Avery, Esqs. is a leading Essex County trial firm. The firm represents clients across all 22 Essex County municipalities from our offices in Ridgefield (Bergen County) — the same office where Robert W. Avery has practiced since 1976 and where he served fifteen years as a New Jersey Municipal Court Judge (1986–2000). Essex County is one of our six core practice counties — Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Passaic, Morris, and Sussex.

If you have an Essex County matter — criminal, DWI, traffic, personal injury, family, landlord-tenant, estate, or municipal court — call (201) 943-2445 for a free first consultation. Robert or John picks up when we’re in the office; voicemails returned promptly.

Essex County at a Glance

• Seat: Newark
• 2020 Census population: 862,782
• Municipalities: 22 (operating 23 municipal courts)
• Vicinage: Essex Vicinage (Vicinage 04)
• Superior Court: Essex County Superior Court, Wilentz Justice Complex, 212 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102 — (973) 776-9300
• Surrogate: Essex County Surrogate’s Court, Hall of Records, Room 206, 465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Newark, NJ 07102 — (973) 621-4900
• Trauma center: University Hospital (Level I, 150 Bergen Street, Newark)
• Land area: 125.9 sq mi

Where Essex Cases Are Heard

Essex County Superior Court — Newark

Indictable criminal matters (first- through fourth-degree crimes), contested civil disputes over $20,000, divorces and custody disputes, chancery equity, and Special Civil Part landlord-tenant matters all sit at Wilentz Justice Complex, 212 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102. The Essex Vicinage (Vicinage 04) operates separate divisions for Civil, Criminal, Family, Chancery work. General phone: (973) 776-9300.

Essex Municipal Courts (23)

Each Essex municipality maintains its own municipal court (with a few joint-court arrangements among smaller boroughs). First-offense DWI, Title 39 traffic offenses, disorderly-persons matters, and ordinance violations are heard in the municipal court of the municipality of the stop or incident. The highest-volume Essex municipal courts are in Newark and the next several largest cities by population.

Essex County Prosecutor’s Office

Indictable matters arising in Essex County are prosecuted by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, currently led by Theodore N. Stephens II. The office is at 50 West Market Street, Newark, NJ 07102, phone (973) 621-4700. The Prosecutor’s Office handles indictable felony presentations, the Essex Vicinage’s Pretrial Intervention (PTI) program under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12, the Megan’s Law unit, and county-wide diversion programs. Defense engagement on a third-degree-or-above Essex charge routinely involves the Prosecutor’s pre-indictment conference and PTI screening.

Essex County Surrogate’s Court

Uncontested probate, executor / administrator qualification, and minor guardianship for Essex County route to the Essex County Surrogate’s Court at Hall of Records, Room 206, 465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Newark, NJ 07102. Will contests and contested probate escalate to Essex County Superior Court — Chancery Division, Probate Part.

Why Avery & Avery for Essex County Matters

Three things distinguish our Essex County practice:

Fifty years of continuous New Jersey trial practice. Robert W. Avery opened his Ridgefield trial practice in 1976. John S. Avery joined the firm in 2012 after admission to the NJ Bar. Across two generations, our family-run trial firm has represented North Jersey clients through every meaningful change in NJ criminal, traffic, civil, and family law.

A former New Jersey Municipal Court Judge in the room. Robert served as Judge of the Ridgefield Municipal Court from 1986 to 2000 — fifteen years on the bench. That background informs how we read prosecutorial offers, municipal-court procedure, and judge-by-judge tendencies in a way that matters when Essex cases are routed to local judicial panels.

Statewide federal-court experience. The firm’s reported case Delvoye v. Lee, 329 F.3d 330 (3d Cir. 2003) — a Hague Convention international-custody matter — established Third Circuit precedent on “habitual residence” of an infant. Essex County families with cross-jurisdictional issues are not foreign territory to us.

Our Essex County Practice Areas

We handle the full Title 2C and Title 39 docket in Essex, plus civil and family-part work:

• Essex County DWI Defense — Alcotest 7110 + refusal defense across all 23 Essex municipal courts
• Essex County Criminal Defense — DP, indictable, and federal-court matters at Essex County Superior Court
• Essex County Traffic — Title 39 defense across the county’s road network
• Essex County Personal Injury — Auto, premises, wrongful death; coordination with University Hospital (Level I, 150 Bergen Street, Newark)
• Essex County Family Law — Essex Vicinage Family Part divorce, custody, support, alimony
• Essex County Landlord-Tenant — Essex Special Civil Part eviction and security-deposit recovery
• Essex County Estate Planning — Essex County Surrogate’s Court probate and inheritance-tax planning
• Essex County Municipal Court — the cross-cutting Title 39 / DP / DWI practice

Essex Cities We Serve

We routinely appear in the major Essex municipalities:

• Newark — population 311,552
• East Orange — population 69,620
• Irvington — population 61,167
• Bloomfield — population 53,095
• West Orange — population 48,842

We also represent clients across the rest of Essex County’s 22 incorporated municipalities. If your matter arose in a town not listed above, call (201) 943-2445 — local court coverage is the rule, not the exception.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do Essex County indictable charges go?

Essex indictable matters (third-degree and above) route to Essex Vicinage (Vicinage 04) — Criminal Division at the Essex County Superior Court in Newark. Pre-indictment conferences run through the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

Where do Essex divorces and custody cases go?

Essex divorce, custody, support, and domestic-violence final restraining orders route to Essex Vicinage (Vicinage 04) — Family Part, also at the Essex County Superior Court.

Where are Essex traffic tickets heard?

In the municipal court of the municipality of the stop. Essex County operates 23 municipal courts. The Superior Court hears appeals from municipal-court convictions on the trial-de-novo standard.

Who is the current Essex County Prosecutor?

Theodore N. Stephens II. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is at 50 West Market Street, Newark, NJ 07102, phone (973) 621-4700. For confirmation, the office’s website is the canonical reference at engagement time.

Schedule a Free Essex County Consultation

For a free first consultation on a Essex County matter, call (201) 943-2445 or submit through the form. Same-business-day response. After hours, leave a voicemail; calls returned promptly the next morning.

For background on the firm, see About, Robert W. Avery’s bio, and John S. Avery’s bio.