Professional Experience: 

R. Monica Hennessy serves as of counsel for Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP, and is co-chair of its Sustainable Business Practice Group. Ms. Hennessy advises businesses on sustainability and employers on sustainable or "green" practices and policies that promote profitability and productivity.  Ms. Hennessy's practice includes representation of corporate clients in all aspects of civil litigation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania federal and state courts.   Her litigation practice emphasizes maritime law, intermodal transportation, labor and employment, and antitrust law.  Ms. Hennessy's recent litigation engagements include the M/T Athos I oil spill on the Delaware River and intermodal and ocean carrier clients in catastrophic accident cases.  Ms. Hennessy has extensive knowledge of the federal court system, including maritime actions, as she worked for several years as a career law clerk to a federal magistrate judge who assumed responsibility for all maritime actions presented to the court.  In addition, with an eye towards prophylactic litigation avoidance, Ms. Hennessy works closely with corporate clients, both large and small, in responding to business challenges, such as advising on statutory compliance, designing corporate policy and strategies, including HR and labor strategies and initiatives, reviewing contracts, and drafting and enforcing company policies.  Ms. Hennessy also serves as a mediator, both locally and nationally, resolving small to multi-million dollar disputes over the past decade. She has been appointed to serve as a mediator for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey's Employment Dispute Resolution Plan and is a Court-appointed and approved Mediator for that court.

Professional Activities:

Ms. Hennessy is appointed to the Delaware River Port Authority Green Ribbon Panel on the DRPA Green Ports Initiative, 2009.  Ms. Hennessy has been appointed to serve as a mediator for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey's Employment Dispute Resolution Plan and is a Court-appointed and approved Mediator for that court.  She is a member of the Pro Bono Committee for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and her co-authored Pro Bono Representation: A Primer is used by the New Jersey federal court to train attorneys in federal prisoner civil rights litigation.

Publications/Presentations:

Ms. Hennessy's articles include "Rule 16: The Litigator's Forgotten Ally," Litigation, Volume 34, Number 4, Summer 2008; "Paid Family Leave," Labor & Employment Law Quarterly, Winter 2007; "Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment," with D. Keyser, 155 N.J.L.J. 1286 (1999) and "Pro Bono Representation: A Primer," with A. Montemarano and K. Armstrong, http://pacer.njd.uscourts.gov/ (Attorney Services, Pro Bono Representation).

Ms. Hennessy's recent presentations include PBI Employment Law Institute, "Toward a Protean Workforce: Diversity and Affirmative Action, April 2009; Montgomery McCracken and Nonprofit Issues® Present the 18th Annual This Year in Nonprofit Law, "Downsizing," November 2008; 2008 MS Conference and Expo, Valley Forge, PA, "Making MS Work: Employment Issues," November 2008; Sustainable Venture Institute, "Legal Issues in Sustainable Business," Philadelphia, PA, November 2008; United States District Court, New Jersey, Camden, Pro Bono Opportunities, July 2008; National MS Society, "Making MS Work" June 2008; Burlington County Bar Association, "Workplace Investigations" February 2008; Sustainable Venture Institute, "Legal Issues in Sustainable Business," Philadelphia, PA, November 2007; MMWR Labor Law Symposium "Developments in the ADA," April 2007; PBI Employment Law Institute, April 2007, Mock Mediation Workshop; EDR Training for Court Unit Executives and Managers (Pilot), Administrative Office of the Courts, Fair Employment Practices Office, Washington, DC, September 2006.  Ms. Hennessy has trained the employment dispute resolution coordinators for the United States Court system in a series of training sessions covering employment discrimination, mediation, and dispute resolution topics.

Community Associations:

Ms. Hennessy currently serves as Co-Chair of the board of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia and has been co-chair of its programming committee and chair of its personnel committee.  Ms. Hennessy also serves on the Executive Board of Sustainable Cherry Hill.  She has served as a board member of the Alice Paul Institute. 

Admitted to Practice:

Ms. Hennessy is admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Education:

Ms. Hennessy graduated cum laude with a J.D. degree from Temple University, James Beasley School of Law, in 1995, where she received the Jerry Zaslow Memorial Award for demonstrated outstanding academic achievement as well as well-rounded activity within the Law School community. While at Temple, she co-founded Public Interest Experience, a student pro bono program, which received the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyer for the Arts Public Service Award in 1997.

Ms. Hennessy graduated cum laude with a B.A. degree from Fordham University in 1986, where she majored in English with a minor in French. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies.