Mark P. Dugan was born and raised in Union County, New Jersey, where he practices law. He is a graduate of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Economics, majoring in Accounting. Mark also graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, with a Juris Doctor degree. There, he was a Samuel Belkin Scholar in Corporate Law.
Mr. Dugan’s practice focuses on business law, frequently as outside general legal counsel. Mark has represented large, medium and small businesses, devoting his efforts principally to closely-held entities. He also has represented and continues to represent non-profit enterprises, from formation through the duration of the entity, securing tax-exempt status for those that qualify. With a broad array of experience over decades in practice, Mark guides clients on and represents them in connection with structuring, forming and organizing the business or non-profit entity, maintaining corporate formalities, offers daily consultations and advice, and regularly negotiates, drafts, reviews and revises contracts, agreements, leases and other instruments. Mark also has substantial experience as a commercial litigator, vindicating the rights of, and protecting and defending, the organization.
Mr. Dugan further regularly handles commercial litigation and transactional work, including business and asset acquisitions and sales, stock and membership purchases and sales, all manner of corporate work, commercial real estate purchases and sales, land use applications and related matters, estate planning and administration, estate, probate, trust and general litigation, and commercial landlord-tenant matters, including litigation. He additionally has served as Township Attorney in Hillside, New Jersey, and at present, is Township Attorney in Clark, New Jersey. He represents employers regularly in connection with, and employees in selected, employment matters. Mr. Dugan also is a R. 1:40 Mediator, is appointed by the Court in such capacity and is privately retained as such to assist parties embroiled in a dispute to resolve the controversy without continued, expensive and time-consuming litigation.
Mr. Dugan is licensed to practice law in four jurisdictions – the State of New Jersey, the State of New York, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Mark also is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.
Mr. Dugan previously has served as an investigator, the Vice Chair and the Chair of the District XII Ethics Committee for Union County; a Panel Chair of the District XII Fee Arbitration Committee for Union County; as an elected public official and member, the Finance Commissioner and the Public Affairs Commissioner of the Cranford Township Committee; and as a Commissioner, the Chair of the Legal Committee and a member of the Finance and the Insurance Review Committees of the Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority. Over the decades, he has served on the Boards of many civic, charitable and religious organizations. Currently he serves as pro bono outside general legal counsel to St. Joseph Social Center, Inc. and as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Roncoli Foundation.
