Felician University professor of philosophy Judith Joan Sullivan will be featured as a top lawyer by the AL Media website New Jersey Monthly Magazine, and Bergen Magazine in recognition for excellence and achievements by the legal community.

A practicing business lawyer in the New York, New Jersey area for nearly three decades Sullivan represents large and mid-sized companies, with subspecialties in foreign direct investment and general business counseling.

One of six children, Professor Sullivan says her parents, Edward and Joan, were the driving force in her life making her what she is today, adding, “There is no way I would be able to accomplish what I’ve been able to accomplish without them, no matter how smart I was. They gave me an abundance of emotional support, even if they couldn’t afford much.”  Her 92-year-old father was a Port Authority police officer and most of her siblings have graduate degrees. “It wasn’t easy but somehow we were able to do it,” says Sullivan.

Judith Joan Sullivan

Sullivan is the chair and founder of Sullivan Law and Government Affairs, a small-sized law firm. “I’ve had it for many years, but I only use it for inexpensive work for local people who have the need for legal services but who just can’t afford to pay that much.” She especially likes to help women because, “we are suffering throughout the whole world and we need to help each other in a big way. Things are not equal yet.”

In addition to Felician University, Professor Sullivan also teaches at Ramapo College, Sussex County Community College, and previously taught at Seton Hall Law School, which is her alma mater. “It became readily apparent when I got to law school that I was going to have to work three times as hard because I was a woman and also because I had no family connections.” She performed very well in law school graduating in the top 10% of her class, excelling in written and oral examinations and winning moot court competitions. Her academic record and hard work landed her a job at a prestigious law firm in New York City. Now as a professor Sullivan reminds her students they don’t “have to be the landed gentry” to become lawyers.

Sullivan is also founder and chair of Ramapough Conservancy, a charity working for the protection of the Ramapo Mountains, that among other things helps preserve historic sites such as the 248 year-old Van Allen House in Oakland which was occupied by George Washington in 1777.  Sullivan helped finish the paperwork for a grant gaining the trust and confidence of the community. Her charity brought her into close contact with the Ramapough Lenape Nation, a tribe Sullivan describes as “very beautiful souls.”  Her 17- year- old son is also close with members of the tribe. Sullivan likes to think that anything she does will hopefully resonate and grow. “It just keeps growing and growing -three times, five times time, you know, just going from there.”

Sullivan says teaching at Felician is a, “very embracing experience and is one of the reasons she loves coming to campus every week.” The feeling is mutual because Felician university is proud of Professor Sullivan, not just because of her record of charitable contributions or the multiple awards she has garnered over the years, but because of how deeply she embraces the Felician Franciscan Values.