The Honorable Anthony J. Mellaci Jr., retired Superior Court judge, serves as of counsel with the firm, specializing in state and federal criminal law, as well as municipal law, cannabis law and dispute resolution.
Anthony joined the firm after 19 years on the bench. He was sworn in as a Superior Court judge and assigned to the Family Court in 1997. In his last 13 years on the bench, he sat in the Criminal Division, rising to the position of presiding criminal judge for the Monmouth County Vicinage.
In 1976, he began a clerkship with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office while still in law school. He remained with the Prosecutor’s Office until 1980, when he accepted a position as an assistant state attorney with the Broward County States Attorney Office in Florida.
He joined the law firm of Smith and Shaw in West Long Branch when he returned to New Jersey. He remained there until June 1982, when he rejoined the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office as an assistant prosecutor. He remained in the Prosecutor’s Office until August 1997, serving as a trial team leader, the director of major crimes, director of special investigations and director of the Investigative Bureau. He tried more than 100 jury trials, including 12 murder cases and eight death penalty prosecutions.
Born and raised in Monmouth County, Anthony was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by NJSP in 2022 and the 2022 Professionalism Award by the Monmouth Bar Association.
Seton Hall University School of Law, J.D., 1978
Villanova University, B.A., 1974
