The Honorable Freda L. Wolfson (ret.), partner and Chair of Lowenstein Sandler’s Alternative Dispute Resolution practice, gives an in-depth interview to Law360 Pulse about her 36 years of service as a federal judge, and what she looks forward to in her new role at the firm. Wolfson describes her years as Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, where she “entered 40 standing orders during COVID dealing with how the court would operate, done in consultation with the other judges and our security committee to make sure that the safety of our core family, as well as the litigants and the attorneys coming before us, was paramount…Everyone stepped up. We all did what we had to do, we kept the court running, moving our cases.” Judge Wolfson also recalls her early experiences as the only female, full time U.S, magistrate judge at the time, noting: “Magistrate judges appreciate the practice of law from the ground level, from the moment a case gets filed until it's ready to be tried by the district judge. …Those were great years. I got to interact with a lot of lawyers and the parties.” As she returns to private practice, Judge Wolfson looks forward to leading mediations, arbitrations, monitorships, and investigations. She adds: “I'd like to be hopefully appointed a special master in cases. I think that the background that I have and having been involved in very large [multidistrict litigation cases], class actions and other things, both as a magistrate judge and a district judge, made me well-prepared for that.”

Matt Savare, partner in Lowenstein’s IP & Tech Transactions and the Emerging Companies & Venture Capital, chair of its Commercial Contracts practice, and Vice Chair of Lowenstein Crypto, comments in Law360 on the suit filed by pop singer Rick Astley alleging a violation of his right of publicity under California state law by rapper Yung Gravy who used an impersonator imitating Astley’s voice from the hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” on Gravy’s song, "Betty (Get Money).” Savare doubts that Astley’s suit details a sufficient cause of action, saying: "Here, the plaintiff does not allege any commercial use of his voice, so it may be difficult to win on a publicity claim.”