Mary Kay Roberts is a Partner in the Firm who specializes in government affairs. She works with a broad range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, banking, insurance, education, technology, telecommunications and utilities. She also recently formed a coalition of the state’s blood banks.

Both a lawyer and a lobbyist, Mary Kay manages the Firm’s office in Trenton.

She is counsel to the New Jersey Bankers Association, a trade association of large and small commercial banks in the state, which serves as an advocate and voice for the needs and goals of the banking industry. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Banking Law Section of the New Jersey Bar, where she chairs the Section’s Legislative Committee.

She is also a former member of the Women Presidents Organization, which is designed to improve business conditions for women business leaders and to promote the acceptance and advancement of women entrepreneurs in all industries.

A frequent speaker to the New Jersey Bankers Association on topics such as foreclosures, predatory lending, the Sarbanes Oxley Act, and consumer lending, Mary Kay has also written for New Jersey Bankers Magazine on the USA Patriot Act. She is also the author of “Ensuring Coverage, Balance, Openness and Ethical Conduct for Advisory Committee Members Under the Advisory Committee Act” (5 Administrative Law Journal, 1991).

Mary Kay was honored by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce in 2024 as a “Woman of Inspiration.” According to the Chamber, this recognition honored “12 exceptional women who have used talent and hard work to create economic opportunities and help make New Jersey a better place to live and work.”  Mary Kay was presented with the Private Sector Advocate Award.

In 2018, Mary Kay was honored with the Mary Philbrook Award by the Women’s Political Caucus of New Jersey at the Passion, Power, Progress Awards event in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The award is presented to a woman with a distinguished legal career “during which she has removed barriers and created opportunities for other women in the interest of advancing equality in all spheres.”

In 2005, she was nominated Vice Chair of the Healthcare Administration Board, an 11-member panel that advises the Commissioner of Health on regulation and healthcare policy.

Prior to joining Riker Danzig, Mary Kay was the chief of staff and legislative liaison to the New Jersey Department of Banking under Gov. Florio. In addition, she was Judicial Law Clerk to Hon. L. Anthony Gibson, J.S.C., Chancery Division in Atlantic and Cape May Counties. Raised in New Jersey, Mary Kay has long been involved with local government affairs.

State Government

Legislative

Regulatory

Administrative

New Jersey

United States District Court, District of New Jersey

American University, Washington College of Law, J.D., 1991

Boston College, B.A., cum laude, 1988

Former Member, Women Presidents Organization

Member, New Jersey State Bar Association

Vice Chair, Healthcare Administration Board

Counsel, New Jersey Bankers Association

Member, Law Advisory Board of the NJCJI

Mary Kay has been included in The Best Lawyers in America®, a peer review of U.S. lawyers, in the Government Relations field since 2008. In addition, Mary Kay received the Best Lawyers® “Lawyer of the Year” award in the area of Government Relations in the Princeton region for 2023; this is an honor given to a single attorney in a particular practice area in each region, annually.  Additionally, in 2012 and 2018, Mary Kay received the “Lawyer of the Year” award for Government Relations in the Princeton/Trenton region. 

In 2024, Mary Kay was honored by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce as a “Woman of Inspiration.” According to the Chamber, this recognition honored “12 exceptional women who have used talent and hard work to create economic opportunities and help make New Jersey a better place to live and work.”  Mary Kay was presented with the Private Sector Advocate Award.

In 2023 and again in 2024, Mary Kay was named to ROI-NJ’s “ROI Influencers: Women in Business List.” Each year, ROI-NJ puts together a list of the female power players in New Jersey who are in top leadership roles and making an impact in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Law Journal named Mary Kay a “New Jersey Trailblazer” for 2020. The Law Journal distinguished select lawyers in New Jersey who “made significant marks” on the practice of law in their sectors.

She was also named one of the Power 50 in Banking by NJBIZ magazine in 2016.

Thomson Reuters has included Mary Kay on the New Jersey Super Lawyers list for Governmental Relations since 2006.

Mary Kay has been named one of 40 lawyers under 40 by the New Jersey Law Journal. 

See Awards and Honors Methodology.

No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.