Mr. Albert has been dedicated to representing clients in premises liability, automobile, trucking, workplace accident, property damage, and wrongful death cases in New York and New Jersey. Many cases have involved Fortune 500 and large municipal clients. His career has also included serving as Managing Attorney at a busy New Jersey law firm, as well as a Partner at a well respected New York defense firm. In that capacity, aside from handling a large book of cases and the firm’s appeals, he was privileged to serve as a trial mentor, and the in-house Legal Education director and instructor. He has also served as Senior Insurance Defense Counsel in complicated construction accidents featuring catastrophic injuries, complex commercial construction defect cases, contractual indemnification claims, and scaffold/ladder Labor Law cases. Secondary experience has included medical and pharmaceutical malpractice, employment law, workers compensation, and criminal defense. Mr. Albert has served as second and first chair on multiple jury trials, featured in the New Jersey Law Journal. Mr. Albert has argued and won numerous appeals.

Kevin J. Conyngham is a partner in Harwood Lloyd’s General Litigation and Insurance Litigation Departments. Mr. Conyngham’s primary areas of practice are Insurance Coverage litigation, Construction Defect Litigation, and Personal Injury Litigation. Mr. Conyngham received his B.A. in Economics from Fordham University in 1987. He received his J.D. from New York Law School in 1991. He has been a trial attorney in New Jersey for over 30 years. He was a partner at Zimmerer, Murray, Conyngham and Kunzier before joining Harwood Lloyd as a Partner in 2023. Mr. Conyngham is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New Jersey, the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has successfully argued over 20 cases before the New Jersey Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court, including the reported decision of Parks v. Rogers 176 N.J. 491 (2003). Mr. Conyngham has been named by the New Jersey Super Lawyers® Magazine for general litigation for 2023 and 2024. The selections for this list are made by the research team at Super Lawyers, which is a service of the Thomson Reuters Legal Division based in Eagan, MN. Each year, the research team at Super Lawyers undertakes a multi-phase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff, a peer review of candidates by practice area, and a good-standing and disciplinary check. The decisions made by Super Lawyers have not been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court. Mr. Conyngham is a graduate of The Justice Morris Pashman American Inn of Court.

Eva Signore is Counsel to Harwood Lloyd’s Insurance Litigation Department, focusing on premises liability, automobile negligence, products liability, social host liability and claims against public entities. A seasoned trial attorney, Ms. Signore spent over a decade as the primary litigator for Bergen County Counsel, defending the County in a wide range of civil matters. She also served as a Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor, where she single-handedly handled domestic violence weapons forfeitures, expungements and Krol hearings. Her diverse background –spanning civil, criminal, matrimonial law and municipal law, gives her a sharp well-rounded perspective in every case she handles.

William DeVito is a Partner at Harwood Lloyd. Prior to joining Harwood LLoyd, he was a Staff Counsel Attorney for AIG from 2000 to July of 2024, including serving as co-attorney of record in New York and attorney of record in Connecticut from 2017 through July of 2024. Mr. Devito worked at another prominent defense firm briefly at the end of 2024, handling high exposure cases for Liberty Mutual and Progressive Insurance before joining Harwood Lloyd. Shortly, after joining AIG Staff Counsel in 2000 he was promoted to Senior Trial Attorney and became the dedicated handling attorney for a major municipal contractor and several City agencies. From 2006 to 2008 he managed bad-faith litigation throughout the country for AIG’s personal lines unit. He has handled automobile, premises, construction UM/UIM and general liability cases. He was also dedicated to training Claims Professionals and his staff counsel lawyers as well as, presenting programs for the NY Defense Association and National Business Institute. He has presented courses on defending Traumatic Brain Injury claims, Legal Ethics, Premises and Liability, Lifecare plans and the NY Administrative Code as it applies to trip and fall cases. Prior to working at AIG, he served as a Law clerk for the Superior Court of Connecticut for one year and then began his litigation experience working for a prominent plaintiff firm in NYC for two years. In 1996, he joined Geico’s Staff Counsel team in New York where he led and affirmative motion unit and then was promoted to trial attorney and exclusively handled trials in Kings County from 1998 to 2000.

William H. Grae joined Harwood Lloyd LLP in 2024 as Counsel with potential responsibility for litigation and trial work in New York and New Jersey. He received his B.A. in Anthropology Crom Cornell in 1991 and a J.D. from Pace Law School in 1994, graduating from both school with academic honors. He has more than thirty (30) years of experience as a creative and innovative litigator, trial attorney, and appellate advocate, whose work in the area of personal-injury defense with a particular emphasis on NY Labor Law/construction accidents, tractor trailer/common carrier claims, general-liability hospitality industry and Dram Shop claims, product liability claims, and litigation of related coverage disputes in NY and NJ. He has both prosecuted and defended professional liability claims involving the medical, dental, podiatric, veterinary, and engineering fields. With respect to construction-related litigation in NY, Grae has particular experience providing risk-management, emergency site-response coordination, and cost-effective legal counsel to defend large-loss claims asserted against construction project participants including owners, general contractors, and construction managers, along with litigation of related coverage disputes. In addition to the specialty, Grae has also extensive litigation and trial experience involving general-liability claims, catastrophic motor carrier and aviation events, mass torts (pharmaceutical, motor-vehicle product liability, lead, and asbestos exposure) in New York and New Jersey State and federal courts. Grae has served as local trial counsel for multiple nationwide defense programs and has experience trying cases before juries throughout the City and State of New York and several NJ counties as well as federal court. Outside the field of personal-injury, Grae also has substantial experience representing clients including financial services providers, real-estate developers, and other business entities confronted by commercial, regulatory claims, and employment-discrimination claims. This includes TILA and CFPB compliance work and defense of consumer credit, NY and NJ Consumer Fraud, usury and related liability claims in NY, NJ and federal courts. In NY, he has also assisted property developers and owners negotiate and litigation issues related to large-scale commercial development projects, land use, and access agreements. Grae has also represented clients and helped resolve based on alleged architectural barriers claims under ADA, wage-and-hour claims under FLSA and related NY State and City/local law, and employment-discrimination claims based on federal, NY, and local law. Grae’s appellate experience includes multiple appearances before each department of the New York State Appellate Division, the New York State Court of Appeals, the NJ Appellate Division, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. His active practice involving alternate dispute resolution not involves frequent mediations and arbitrations. Grae has also served as a volunteer arbitrator in the City of New York Small Claims Court (Kings and Bronx Counties). Grae’s prior pro bono work includes representing the survivors of the Golden Venture disaster and Haitian civil war in US Asylum proceedings as well as serving as a (volunteer) Special Assistant District Attorney with the Appeals Bureau of the Office of the Kings County District Attorney (Brooklyn, NY). In 2004, he was certified as a NJ Animal Cruelty Investigation and later was commissioned as a Human Enforcement Officer (volunteer) with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Animal Cruelty Task Force/Bergen County Chapter of the NJ SPCA (Law Enforcement Division), volunteer work he continued from 2005 to 2010. Grae has lectured on construction-accident liability arising under New York’s Labor Law, medical malpractice risk management, and other litigation-related subjects.

Carmel J. Decker is a Partner with Harwood Lloyd, practicing in its Insurance Defense Litigation and Commercial Litigation Departments. Ms. Decker concentrates her practice in employment law, civil rights violations, construction law, corporate and contract law and insurance law. Ms. Decker’s employment law practice includes complex litigation in state and federal courts involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment/hostile work environment, discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract, corporate and business law, common-law claims, ERISA, CEPA, the New Jersey Law against Discrimination, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, hiring practices, restrictive covenants, employee handbooks and workplace torts. Ms. Decker represents companies, public entities and public employees in matters involving civil rights violations, negligence and police conduct. Ms. Decker also handles matters involving directors’ and officers’ liability, particularly employment and civil rights disputes. Ms. Decker lectures on employment matters including sexual harassment/hostile work environment discrimination, hiring practices and litigation of employment issues. Ms. Decker drafts employee handbooks, counsels clients on risk management and regulatory compliance and provides preventive counseling to employers on employment issues. Ms. Decker also appears in matters before the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Ms. Decker’s construction law practice includes complex multi-party litigation involving claims of construction defect, professional liability of architects and engineers and construction site accidents. As part of her construction defect practice, Ms. Decker handles matters involving claims of deficiencies in construction and design, latent construction defects, building code violations, breach of contract and insurance. Ms. Decker’s construction law practice encompasses matters arising on public, private, commercial and residential projects. Ms. Decker received her B.S., cum laude, in Business Administration from Montclair State College in 1978 and her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1981. Ms. Decker is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New Jersey (1982), the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (1982) and the courts of the State of New York (1989). Ms. Decker is a member of the Federal Bar Association, the Bergen County Bar Association and the Professional Liability Underwriting Society.

Stephen Wellinghorst is Co-Managing Partner and practices in Harwood Lloyd’s Insurance Litigation Department, and Commercial Litigation Department. Mr. Wellinghorst received his B.A. in Political Science from Montclair State University in 1984. He received his J.D. from Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit School of Law in 1988, where he was an Associate Editor of the Ohio Northern University Law Review. Following law school, Mr. Wellinghorst joined the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. In 1992, he joined the law firm of Braff Harris & Sukoneck, where he specialized in insurance defense litigation representing various insurance companies, self-insured companies and public entities. He became a partner with Braff Harris & Sukoneck in 2000. He joined Harwood Lloyd in 2011 as a partner and practices primarily in the area of insurance defense litigation, representing several insurance companies, self-insured corporations and municipalities. Mr. Wellinghorst specializes in premises liability, representing the largest mall in New Jersey as well as the largest franchised quick service food company in the world and the largest supermarket chain in the east coast. As a trial attorney, Mr. Wellinghorst has successfully litigated multi-million dollar lawsuits on behalf of his clients. He has more than 30 years experience litigating all aspects of civil litigation, including insurance defense, premises liability, commercial auto, self-insured and public entity defense, professional liability, public liability, product liability, construction defects, employment discrimination and commercial litigation matters. Mr. Wellinghorst is a former barrister in the Arthur T. Vanderbilt American Inn of Court, a member of the Defense Research Institute, and a member of the Council on Litigation Management. He has presented numerous seminars and lectured for trade associations and the insurance industry. He has been a frequent legal commentator on local and national news programs such as MSNBC, Court TV, Fox News, CNN and News 12 New Jersey. Mr. Wellinghorst was Municipal Judge for the Borough of West Paterson (2003-2008) and was a Councilman in the Village of Ridgewood from 2010 – 2013. He is the former Planning Board Attorney for Woodland Park (2009-2011) and is the current Planning Board Attorney for the Village of Ridgewood. He was the former Prosecutor for the Pascack Joint Municipal Court which includes the towns of Montvale, Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake, in 2023. Mr. Wellinghorst is a member of the Bergen County District II Ethics Committee. Mr. Wellinghorst is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New Jersey (1988), the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (1989), the Courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1989), and the United States Supreme Court (1996), The District of Columbia Courts (2013) and the State of New York Courts (2016). Mr. Wellinghorst is a member of the American Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association, New York State Bar Association and the Bergen Bar Association.

Curtis J. Turpan is a partner in Harwood Lloyd’s Insurance Litigation Department specializing in the field of No Fault Personal Injury Protection (PIP). He began working as a law clerk at Harwood Lloyd while still in law school. He became an associate with the Firm in 1986 and was made a partner in 1997. He currently serves as the firm’s Co-Managing Partner. Mr. Turpan is recognized as an expert in the field of PIP and automobile coverage litigation. He is one of only three defense attorneys serving on the 14 member Forthright Advisory Council for No-Fault Disputes in the State of New Jersey. In that capacity, he is involved in revising the rules and procedures of the PIP arbitration process as well as in the review and selection of the Dispute Resolution Professionals who preside over PIP arbitration hearings. Mr. Turpan is also a member of a select committee, created by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, the state agency that regulates PIP coverage and claims in New Jersey, designed to reform the current PIP arbitration process. Mr. Turpan received his B.S. with Special Attainments in Commerce from Washington and Lee University in 1982. He received his J.D. from Seton Hall Law School in 1985. Mr. Turpan was Law Clerk to Hon. James T. Murphy, Judge, Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County, for the 1985-1986 Term. Many of the major automobile insurance carriers and PIP vendors in New Jersey, such as Allstate, New Jersey Manufacturers, GEICO, Mercury, Amica, American Commerce Insurance, Avis/Budget Group, Global Liberty Insurance, Concentra Inc. and Auto Injury Solutions, trust Mr. Turpan to not only successfully defend the claims made against them but to also provide expert counsel and advice on how to prevent claims from being made against them in the first place. In his role as a counsellor, he has participated in revising the provisions of automobile insurance policies, drafting the terms of PIP Decision Point Review Plans, assisting out of state insurance carriers enter the New Jersey automobile insurance market, and providing training and support to claims’ personnel. As a litigator, he has personally handled thousands of PIP and coverage disputes throughout the state, and oversees the firm’s associates who also handle these matters. Mr. Turpan also has extensive experience with insurance fraud and SIU related PIP claims and has both successfully defended carriers against such claims and brought actions against medical providers who improperly received PIP benefits. He has appeared before the Appellate Division on numerous occasions and represented the prevailing party in several significant reported cases including Seaview Orthopedics v. NHR, et.al., which upheld a PIP carrier’s right to utilize PPO agreements, and Montemayor v. Signorelli, which held that the tort threshold selected by the named insured applied to the insured’s resident children who do not own their own automobile even if the child was an emancipated adult. Mr. Turpan is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New Jersey (1985) and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (1985). In addition to the Forthright and DOBI committees discussed above, he is a member of the New Jersey Defense Association, the Bergen County Bar Association, the North Jersey Claims Association, the Central Jersey Claims Association and the South Jersey Claims Association.

André obtained his Juris Doctor in 2008 from Fordham Law School., and joined the firm in 2025. His extensive litigation experience includes the representation of insurance companies and their insureds, municipalities, lending institutions, cooperative and condominium boards, property management companies, and private clients, among others. André is admitted to practice in New York at both the state and federal levels.

John W. McDermott is a Co-Managing Partner of Harwood Lloyd, LLP. Mr. McDermott has engaged in all aspects of commercial transactions and litigation including but not limited to real estate, loans, mortgage foreclosures, fraud, land use and zoning. He is presently spearheading the development of the firm’s new Cannabis Law practice group. Mr. McDermott received his B.S. in Economics, magna cum laude, from St. Peter’s College in 2003. He received his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2008. While at Seton Hall, Mr. McDermott was a member of the Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board and aided in drafting semester assignments which highlighted current discrepancies in federal appellate circuit court decisions. Additionally, Mr. McDermott authored, “Growth Attenuation in the Profoundly Developmentally Disabled: A therapeutic Option or a Socioeconomic Convenience” which was published in the Seton Hall Legislative Journal. Mr. McDermott clerked for the Hon. Mark M. Russello, Judge, Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County. Prior to joining Harwood Lloyd, Mr. McDermott worked for a Fortune 100 Company in Manhattan. He is actively involved in the community and has participated in and arranged various pro bono projects. Mr. McDermott is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of New Jersey (2008), the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (2008), and the courts of the State of New York (2009). Mr. McDermott was appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court and is currently Vice Chair of the District IIB Ethics Committee. He was also previously appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve on the New Jersey Fee Arbitration Committee where he served as Vice Chairman of the Bergen County District Fee Arbitration Committee. Mr. McDermott has been named by New Jersey Super Lawyers® magazine as one of the top attorneys in New Jersey for 2018. The selections for this list are made by the research team at Super Lawyers, which is a service of the Thomson Reuters, Legal division based in Egan, MN. Each year, the research team at Super Lawyers undertakes a multi-phase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff, a peer review of candidates by practice area, and a good-standing and disciplinary check. The decisions made by Super Lawyers have not been approved by the New Jersey Supreme Court. Mr. McDermott has been named by Best Lawyers in America as one of America’s Best Attorneys for Real Estate Law. Mr. McDermott is named in New Jersey Monthly Magazine as one of New Jersey’s best attorneys.