Travis L. Francis joined the Firm as Of Counsel after serving for 25 years as a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey and as the Assignment Judge of Middlesex County. He is a member of Riker Danzig’s Alternative Dispute Resolution, Commercial Litigation, and Insurance Groups. He is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Judge Francis’s practice focuses on employment, restrictive covenants, contracts and complex discovery issues, general equity, complex commercial litigation, complex construction litigation, internal corporate and municipal investigations, and insurance coverage.

Prior to his appointment as Assignment Judge in 2007, Judge Francis was the Presiding Judge of the Chancery General Equity Court, where he tried complex commercial cases, forfeitures, shareholder oppression actions, orders to show cause, and specific performance actions.

After his appointment to the bench in 1992, Judge Francis was initially assigned to the Criminal Division and two years later assigned to the Family Division where he served as the Vicinage Juvenile Court Judge for two years. Following that, he was assigned to the Civil Division where he tried all types of civil cases including but not limited to personal injury, discrimination, medical malpractice, complex construction litigation, product liability, and insurance coverage cases.

Judge Francis served on numerous Supreme Court Committees, including Minority Concerns, Juvenile Justice and the Family, Supreme Court Bench-Bar-Media, Civil Practice, the Capital Punishment Advisory Committee, and the special Committee on Preemptory Challenges and Jury Voir Dire. Judge Francis served as Chair of the Conference of Wiretap Judges.

Judge Francis was recognized by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in 2009 with its Outstanding Volunteer Service Award.

Judge Francis is an adjunct professor at the Rutgers Law School – Newark, and he has presided over moot court competitions for several schools. He is a Visiting Associate for the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. He has been a lecturer for the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education and a guest lecturer at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Prior to serving on the bench, Judge Francis worked for the Public Advocate in the Middlesex County Public Defender’s Office. He was a trial attorney at Prudential Insurance Company and a Senior Trial Attorney for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company.

Employment

Restrictive Covenants

Contract Issues

General Equity

Complex Commercial Litigation

Insurance Coverage

Complex Construction Litigation

New Jersey

United States District Court, District of New Jersey

Rutgers University School of Law, J.D.

North Carolina State University, M.A.Ed.

Bradley University, B.S.

Co-Chair, Riker Danzig Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Since 2023, Judge Francis has been included in The Best Lawyers in America®, a peer review of U.S. lawyers, in the Arbitration and Mediation fields.

In 2019, Judge Francis was honored as a “Diverse Attorney of the Year” by the New Jersey Law Journal. His interview regarding the honor is available here.

See Awards and Honors Methodology.

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