Biography
Leah Kelman is co-chair of Herrick’s Litigation Department and the firm's General Counsel. Her dual leadership roles reflect her sound judgment, strategic insight and ability to provide guidance that minimizes risk and advances business objectives for both Herrick and its clients.
Leah’s litigation practice is broad and deep, spanning complex commercial disputes, class action defense, product liability, title insurance matters and high-stakes real estate and business conflicts. She has represented clients in state and federal courts across the country and is known for her ability to navigate multifaceted matters involving significant operational, financial, or reputational exposure.
As Herrick’s General Counsel, Leah’s advisory role shapes how she practices—bringing heightened awareness of risk, ethics, governance and strategic decision‑making to her matters.
Real Estate and Title Insurance Litigation
Leah has significant experience in real estate litigation in matters involving breach of contract, partnership disputes, economic torts including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and tortious interference claims on behalf of real estate owners and developers. She also has substantial experience in title insurance litigation representing many of the major title insurance companies in New York and New Jersey in complex real estate claims on behalf of their insureds.
Class Action and Product Liability
Leah’s class action and product liability experience in state and federal courts is substantial. Some notable matters include:
- Defending a major food manufacturer in class actions challenging health claims on product labels;
- Defeating class certification in a consumer action involving fruit snack products;
- Securing dismissal of product liability and consumer fraud claims brought against an international building materials company related to roofing system performance after Hurricane Sandy;
- Obtaining complete dismissal of a putative consumer class action alleging defective data-processing capabilities in mobile devices;
- Winning summary judgment on defect claims brought against a tire manufacturer;
- Defending a global construction materials company in multi-party litigation arising from a fire that destroyed a large cold‑storage warehouse.
General Commercial Litigation
Leah has broad-based litigation experience handling cases in both state and federal Courts and arbitration forums, focused on a wide spectrum of complex and/or high-stakes commercial disputes. She often serves as local counsel in New Jersey in a diverse range of commercial litigation matters, drawing upon her deep understanding of the court system and leveraging the relationships that the Herrick team has cultivated with judges, opposing counsel and other key stakeholders for her clients' benefit. In particular, Leah has experience in cases involving trademark and trade dress infringement as well as unfair competition.