Litigation Attorney Theodore V. Wells Jr. Named Keynote Speaker at Seton Hall University School of Law Commencement

Newark, NJ – May 12, 2017 Theodore “Ted” V. Wells, Jr. will deliver the keynote address at the 63rd commencement ceremony for Seton Hall University School of Law on Thursday, May 25 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, at which 167 students will receive Juris Doctor degrees, 56 students will receive Master of Science in Jurisprudence degrees, and three will receive Master of Laws degrees.

A previous keynote speaker at Seton Hall Law’s “Diversity in the Legal Profession, Diversity in Leadership,” event, Mr. Wells is a partner and co-chair of the Litigation Department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, an international law firm based in New York City. From 1981 to 1999, Mr. Wells was a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in Roseland, New Jersey.

In 2010, The National Law Journal named Mr. Wells one of “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers,” and over the years it has repeatedly selected him as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, including naming him Lawyer of the Year in 2006. Mr. Wells has also been recognized as one of the outstanding jury trial lawyers in the United States by numerous publications, including Chambers USA, which has noted that he “is considered by many to be ‘the best trial lawyer in the country.’”

Some of Mr. Wells’ significant and publicly reported representations include: the successful defense of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Espy in U.S. v. Espy; the successful defense of U.S. Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan and other corporate executives in State v. Schiavone; the successful defense of U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli in the U.S. Department of Justice’s three-year campaign finance investigation; defense of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney, on perjury charges in U.S. v. Libby; the successful defense of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer for possible violations of federal statutes; and the successful defense of former New York Governor David Paterson for possible ethics violations.

Mr. Wells also has extensive experience in the sports industry. He was chosen by the National Football League as the lead investigator in the Deflategate (New England Patriots) and Bullygate (Miami Dolphins) investigations.

Mr. Wells is active in social, political and community affairs. He was recently the Chair of the American Bar Association Task Force that issued an extensive report in 2017 on the relationship between police officers and communities of color. He served as national treasurer for Senator Bill Bradley’s presidential campaign, and he is the chairman emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Board of Directors. He previously served, on a pro bono basis, as general counsel to the New Jersey NAACP, as New Jersey co-chairperson of the United Negro College Fund, and as general counsel to the New Jersey Democratic Party. He is a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the governing body of Harvard University, and a former trustee of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Newark Day Center and New Jersey Legal Services.

Mr. Wells is a 1976 graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School and a 1972 graduate of Holy Cross College. He clerked for Judge John Gibbons on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mr. Wells has been married for 45 years to Nina Mitchell Wells. Nina, a highly acclaimed attorney, is the former New Jersey Secretary of State and was an Assistant Dean at Rutgers Law School. They have two children, Teresa and Phillip.

About Seton Hall University School of Law

Founded in 1951 and located in Newark, Seton Hall University School of Law is New Jersey’s only private law school and a leading Catholic law school in the New York metropolitan area. Seton Hall Law is dedicated to preparing students for the practice of law through excellence in scholarship and teaching, with a strong focus on clinical education. The Law School also offers a robust selection compliance programs for law, graduate students, as well as mid-career professionals in the health, life sciences, and financial services sectors.

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