Jim Treffinger

James William Treffinger (born May 20, 1950) is an disbarred American lawyer and Republican Party politician who served as County Executive of Essex County, New Jersey from 1995 to 2003. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of obstruction of justice and mail fraud in 2003.

Treffinger was born James Padalino in Newark, New Jersey. When he was 4 years old, he was adopted by Fred Treffinger, who had married his mother. He grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey and attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark. Treffinger later recalled, "We didn't know many Republicans... My family idolized F.D.R. and Truman and John Kennedy. It was a Catholic family, so Kennedy was a double hero."

He graduated magna cum laude from Seton Hall University in 1972 with a degree in history. He was selected as a Fulbright scholar, the first in Seton Hall's history, and studied history, jurisprudence and economics in Germany at the University of Bonn and the University of Marburg in 1973.

Treffinger earned a J.D. degree from Rutgers School of Law—Newark in 1976. He was admitted to the bar in New York and New Jersey, concentrating in his legal career on corporate and insurance law. He worked for the Home Insurance Company in New York City from 1982 to 1987, serving as senior vice president for government affairs and associate general counsel. He was special insurance counsel at Willkie Farr & Gallagher from 1987 to 1989. He joined Hughes Hubbard & Reed in 1990, serving as partner until 1995.

...
Wikipedia