DeCotiis

Louis Rainone is a partner in the firm's Teaneck office. He joined the firm as a partner in 1999. He is Co-Chair of the Municipal Law practice group and a member of the Labor and Employment practice group.

Mr. Rainone’s practice focuses on municipal law, public sector labor and employment law, land use and civil litigation. Mr. Rainone currently serves as Director of Law and City Attorney for the City of Rahway, Special Labor Counsel to the Township of Teaneck and the Township of Old Bridge.  Mr. Rainone is also the Township Attorney for Green Brook and the Borough Attorney for Bound Brook.

As the Director of Law for the City of Rahway and the Township of Edison, New Jersey’s fifth largest municipality, and Township Attorney in Franklin, Somerset County, Mr. Rainone served as corporation counsel and handled all aspects of the municipality’s legal representations, including representation in trial and appellate matters, New Jersey State Tax Court (Edison had the largest ratable base in the State of New Jersey), labor negotiations and arbitrations, and the preparation of ordinances and resolutions. In his representations of Edison Township, he served as the Township’s attorney in the tort litigation filed by 1,450 claimants following the Durham Woods pipeline explosion. As general and litigation counsel to Rahway and Franklin, Mr. Rainone also coordinates and supervises the assignment of all outside counsel for those municipalities.

In addition to his legal career, Mr. Rainone has had an extensive and varied career in public service. He served as Legislative Assistant to the Chairman of the New Jersey General Assembly Committee on Taxation and in the same capacity to the Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He served as Director of Law for the City of Rahway for nine years, from 1991 to 2000, as well as from 2007 to the present. He was Director of Law, Township of Edison, for over a decade, from 1994 to 2006; Township Attorney, Franklin Township, from 1999 to 2007; Labor Counsel to Teaneck Township from 2004 to the present; Labor Counsel for the Borough of Somerville from 2008 to the present; Labor Counsel of the Township of Old Bridge from 2008 to the present; and Special Counsel to the City of South Amboy.

Mr. Rainone has also been a prominent figure in New Jersey politics for over two decades. He is a member of the Democratic Committee in Middletown, and formerly in Matawan. He is the former President of the Monmouth County Young Democrats. He was treasurer of the Van Wagner for Senate and 13th District legislative campaigns in the early 1980s, as well as Treasurer of the Karcher for Governor campaign as well as numerous local campaigns.

Mr. Rainone was named a Super Lawyer by New Jersey Magazine. He was both a member and Secretary of the Matawan Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment. In January of 1987, as a result of his representation of public entities, he was selected as one of the “50 People to Watch in New Jersey Business” by the Business Journal of New Jersey. He has also received an AV Peer Rating from Martindale-Hubble.

Mr. Rainone received his B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University in 1977. He graduated from Seton Hall Law School in 1980, where he was a member of the Legislative Journal.  Following law school, he served as a clerk in the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, and as a legislative aide to State Senator Richard Van Wagner of Middletown, New Jersey. He has been a New Jersey resident for over 45 years.

Bar Admissions:

New Jersey (1980)
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (1980)
United States Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit (1995)
United States Supreme Court (1996)