When the Hon. David H. Ironson, J.S.C. (Ret.) returned in 2025 to lead the firm’s alternative dispute resolution practice, Law360 noted that the move was a return home for Judge Ironson, who spent 17 years with the firm before becoming a judge and clerked for one of the firm’s founders, Arnold Stein, out of law school.
“I’m onto a new chapter,” Ironson told Law360. “I came back to the firm, and I’m glad they wanted me back.”
Judge Ironson shared that his father, Burton Ironson, was a Superior Court judge in Union County for 15 years, adding, “My goal was, I wanted to be a Superior Court judge. I just thought that the challenge, serving the community, trying to bring practical skills that I had as a trial lawyer to the court — it was just my goal and my dream. I was very fortunate that that dream came true.”
The Law360 article “For This Retired NJ Judge, The State Bench Is A Family Trade,” stated that
“When Ironson joined the bench as a Superior Court judge in Morris County after more than 20 years in private practice, his father, who had been retired for 11 years at the time, was sworn back in for one day to conduct the ceremony. To this day, Ironson said, he still has his father’s robes with his initials on them.”
Excerpts from Judge Ironson’s conversation with Law360 about his father’s legacy as a judge, his own reflections from the bench and his plans to develop the firm’s ADR offerings are below. The full article is available at this link. (Subscription may be required.)
What lessons or inspiration did you draw from your father’s career as a Superior Court judge?
My father was my role model. He just passed away in January at 95 years old. He sat on the Union County bench for 15 years. As I was growing up, as I was in law school, as I was a young attorney, I had my father as a role model. He never said to me, “Be a judge,” he never said, “Be a lawyer,” but that’s what I knew, and that’s what I wanted, and thank goodness the stars aligned and I was able to become a judge. My father wouldn’t give me answers. He wanted me to think for myself, and talk to him about it, but he wasn’t one to say, “Do this or do that.”
What kinds of qualities are important for a judge and arbitrator?
What I think I bring with me from the bench to be an effective mediator is impartiality, being neutral, being objective, being a good listener — that’s really important. Parties need to be heard. They have to be able to tell their side. The cases clearly are very personal to the litigants, and you have to understand the emotional aspect and the human stress that they’re going through. As a judge, you have to be really patient and give people their day in court. You don’t want to be out there and just give a decision and people don’t feel like they’re heard.
You practiced as a trial attorney for 22 years before becoming a judge. How did that shape your approach to being a judge and working in ADR?
I think I understand what the needs of counsel are — the pressures that they have, the challenges that they face. The case in court is not their only case. I realize that. As a trial attorney who had to go to court all the time, and understanding those pressures, as a judge I did my very best to treat lawyers with respect and to work with them to the best of my ability. Demeanor is very important. I wanted to treat people with respect, and I really lived by that.
How do those qualities translate to ADR? What are the advantages of handling disputes through ADR?
I didn’t talk to the litigants privately. I didn’t think that was right in court. Certainly, I heard them, but they didn’t come into my chambers. But now they’re going to have the opportunity in mediation for me to sit down with them and to hear what they have to say and try to understand it. I have decision-making skills, I think I can identify issues that are driving the disputes after 17 years and hearing and trying hundreds of cases before a jury. I think I just have that understanding that will be helpful to attorneys and litigants in resolving these things.
ADR is so important because it’s about problem-solving, trying to make everything more efficient. It saves time. It certainly saves money. It’s private. It’s confidential. There’s finality. [At trial], you never know what a jury is going to do. You might be surprised; it’s unpredictable. This way, in mediation, litigants control their own fate, and you can come up with creative solutions.
In court, with a jury, you’re going to win, you’re going to lose, there’s negligence, there’s not negligence. They’re going to make that decision, but here you can become creative. I always said to attorneys, “The best case is a settled case. You don’t know what that jury’s going to do.”
How are you hoping to grow the ADR practice at Einhorn Barbarito?
I hope that I treated people well and that I made informed decisions when I was on the bench, and that lawyers will seek me out.
I certainly on a weekly basis held settlement conferences, and I had attorneys in and gave them the time, and if they needed a day or if they needed to continue with the discussions, I always tried to do that and had very complex cases, significant injuries, where we were ultimately able to come to resolutions of those cases. When you come in at first, you have to find common ground, and you have to listen, and you have to talk, and you have to talk about good points and what potentially might be a difficult situation legalwise. I did this all the time, and it feels natural to me to do it, and I hope it’s successful.