Bill Castner named new Rutgers general counsel

Bill Castner, one of the most influential attorneys in New Jersey, was named Rutgers University’s Executive Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel at a Board of Governors meeting this morning.

The newly-named Rutgers president, William F. Tate IV, chose Castner to run the law department of the nation’s 15th-ranked public university in the U.S. after a national search.   Today is Tate’s first day.

The 52-year-old Castner, a partner at Connell Foley, replaces John Jay Hoffman, who left the post last year after Gov. Phil Murphy nominated him to serve as an associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.  Former New Jersey Attorney General John Farmer, Jr. held the post on an interim basis and led the search process.

“Bill Castner is a highly respected attorney and strategist whose extensive experience in public and private legal practice will be a tremendous asset as he assumes his new role,” said Gov. Phil Murphy. “Over the years, I have often relied on Bill’s knowledge and expertise, including when he served as my senior advisor on firearms. He is the ideal lawyer to support our state’s premier public research university in navigating a wide range of challenges — from debates over federal funding to issues surrounding student visas. I’m thrilled that President Tate has named him to this role and I know that the entire Rutgers community will benefit from his leadership and counsel, just as I have over the years.”

Former U.S. Senator George Helmy, a member of the Rutgers Board of Governors, said that Castner is “well-respected throughout New Jersey and brings to Rutgers decades of experience navigating complex legal and policy matters across both the public and private sectors.”

“His deep understanding of the legal and institutional dynamics that shape higher education, coupled with longstanding relationships with key stakeholders including our brothers and sisters in organized labor, position him to serve the university and support President Tate with clarity, skill and empathy,” Helmy stated.

Tate called Castner  “a highly respected attorney whose distinguished career spans public service, regulatory strategy and complex institutional counsel.”

“He brings to Rutgers not only deep legal knowledge, but a principal commitment, I believe, to public service and public higher education,” Tate said.

Castner’s appointment drew bipartisan praise from the state’s political, legal, civic, and civil rights leaders.

“President Tate has made a superb choice in hiring Bill Castner,” said James Zazzali, the former chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. “I’ve known Bill for 25 years to be a truly gifted attorney who is ethical, highly professional, and with proven accomplishments at the highest levels of New Jersey’s private and public sectors. He has the intelligence and the integrity to figure out the right thing to do and, more important, he has the courage and the character to do the right thing.”

His appointment also drew the support of a key labor union, AAUP-AFT.

“He is a brilliant legal mind, and we know he will act with both integrity and clarity of purpose,” said AAIP national and Rutgers president Todd Wolfson.  “We have no doubt that he will work to protect Rutgers, while centering the students, faculty, and staff that make up our great University.”

Support came from several New Jersey Republicans who are graduates of Rutgers: Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), State Sen. Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township), and Frank Giordano, a South Jersey business leader and top donor to President Donald Trump.

“We know Bill to be smart, ethical, and an attorney of high repute who will be a strong asset to the University and its new President,” the three said in a joint statement.  Castner’s relationship with some Republicans could be helpful as Rutgers and other universities face funding cutbacks from the federal government.

Castner’s appointment could be the only issue that could bring Republicans like Van Drew and nationally-renowned civil rights litigator and Rutgers Law alum Nancy Erika Smith together.

“Bill Castner is one of the most brilliant and ethical lawyers I have ever known,” said Smith.  “I am extremely happy to see Rutgers moving in a new direction with such great leadership. As one publication once put it: you don’t bring in Bill Castner to come in second place.”

A graduate of Rutgers Law and the Eagleton Institute of Politics, Castner began his public service career at the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. After clerking for New Jersey Presiding Appellate Court Judge Sylvia Pressler, he was Zazzali’s clerk in his first term on the  Supreme Court.

At the age of 28, Castner was hired by Speaker Albio Sires and Majority Leader Joe Roberts as general counsel of the Assembly Majority Office; Roberts subsequently elevated him to executive director in 2006.   Perhaps more impressive than his legal accomplishments in the Assembly, Castner coached Speaker Roberts’ softball team to two Golden Dome League championship wins.

Gov. Jon Corzine hired Castner as his chief counsel in 2009.

“President Tate could not find a more exceptional, proven attorney and advocate than Bill Castner,” said Corzine.  “Bill’s legal skills and work ethic will be important elements in further the success and bright future of our great State University.”

In 2010, Castner served on the State Commission of Investigation before resigning in 2011 to serve as chief counsel to the Democratic members of the Apportionment Commission, which redrew legislative districts, as well as the Redistricting Commission for congressional districts in a year when New Jersey lost a House seat following the 2010 census.

In the private sector, Castner headed the Gibbons P.C. Trenton office, spent three years as Senior Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, and has spent the past five years as a partner at Connell Foley LLC, one of the state’s top law firms.

Castner worked early in his career as an attorney at the Fair Share Housing Center and also recently served as a pro bono senior advisor on firearms to Governor Murphy. He received the Arthur E. Armitage Distinguished Alumni Award from the Rutgers School of Law-Camden Alumni Association in 2022.

 “We are thrilled to have one of our own, and Arthur Armitage Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Bill Castner, steering the ship of the university general counsel’s office. As a product of Rutgers Law Camden and established leader in the public and private sector, Bill is uniquely equipped to navigate the landscape of legal challenges facing us now and in years to come,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Angella Middleton, the Rutgers Law Camden Alumni Association Chancellor.  “Bill’s proven track record in the legal community and State of New Jersey as a whole positions him to represent our interests with distinction. We are confident he will continue to make us proud.”