2026 Lehigh Lawyers Association Spring Award Dinner
Tuesday, May 5 | 6:00 pm
About the Event
You are invited to the Lehigh Lawyers Association Spring Award Dinner at The Penn Club in New York. Join us for our annual award dinner honoring Chris Porrino ’89.
Cost: $75.00 Space is limited, so register today!
The Lehigh Lawyers Association is offering subsidized and discounted tickets to young alumni who need financial assistance to attend. Quantities are limited. To request assistance, please email Eileen Gross.
Agenda
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: Cocktail hour (open bar and appetizers included)
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.: Seated four-course dinner (open bar and vegetarian or gluten-free options are available)
Staff Contact: Eileen Gross
Event Details
When: Tuesday, May 5, 2026, 6-9 p.m. Eastern
Location: The Penn Club, The Tarnopol Room
Address: 30 W 44th Street, New York, NY 10036
RSVP by: Sunday, April 26
About the Honoree
Chris Porrino ’89
Chairman, Litigation Department
Lowenstein Sandler
Former New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, upon appointing Chris Porrino to the New Jersey Criminal
Sentencing and Disposition Commission to examine racial and ethnic disparities in the state’s criminal
justice system, said, “He is exactly the right person to build consensus for reforms that will make our
sentencing laws fairer and more equitable.” Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has called him a
"major difference-maker on behalf of New Jersey citizens.” The former director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, Gurbir Grewal, has called Porrino “one of the smartest lawyers I’ve ever met,” adding, “He’s
someone who really cares about everyone around him and really cares about New Jersey.”
Porrino first entered public service in 2012 as director of the Division of Law within the New Jersey
Attorney General's Office, where he led a team of 500 civil lawyers, overseeing thousands of litigation
matters and dozens of trials on behalf of the state's various departments and agencies, and where he
personally handled and argued some of the state’s most sensitive and important cases.
While serving as attorney general from 2016 to 2018, Porrino oversaw the implementation of New
Jersey’s bail reform, the most significant reform of the state’s criminal justice system in its history, via a
model now being replicated nationally. He also took forceful action against anti-Semitism and other
forms of discrimination and pioneered the country’s strictest opioid prescribing rules, paving the way
for an almost immediate and very steep reduction in the number of opioid painkillers prescribed by
physicians in New Jersey. In addition, he worked to improve trust between police and the
communities they serve and led the planned closure of a Civil War-era youth prison in one of the most
significant reforms in the history of the state’s juvenile justice system.
Currently, the chair of Lowenstein Sandler’s litigation department, Porrino advises and represents
businesses and individuals in civil, criminal, and regulatory matters involving securities, consumer fraud,
banking, alcoholic beverage control, gaming, cannabis, energy, insurance, tax, antitrust, real estate, and
the environment, among other areas. He balances his busy docket with numerous initiatives aimed at
improving law enforcement and social justice, including as chair of the New Jersey Criminal Sentencing
and Disposition Commission and on behalf of the Newark Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization
aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the Newark Police Division through better technology,
community policing strategies and training.
Porrino received his J.D. with honors from Seton Hall University School of Law and his B.A. with honors
from Lehigh University.
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