Honorable Joel Schneider, U.S.M.J. (ret.
The Honorable Joel Schneider, USMJ (Ret.d) is currently Of Counsel with the law firm of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads engaged in an ADR practice after he retired from the Bench in January, 2021. He was appointed to the position of United States Magistrate Judge in the District of New Jersey in October 2006 and sat in Camden, New Jersey. He was reappointed for a second eight (8) year term in October 2014. Judge Schneider settled, managed, decided and certified and approved settlements in thousands of cases, including hundreds of complex and multi-party individual and class and collective actions. Prior to his initial appointment, Judge Schneider was in private practice for 26 years where he specialized in complex civil litigation. Judge Schneider was recently appointed Special Master in the Johnson & Johnson/talc MDL. He is the co-author of the chapter on class actions published in the NJ Mass Tort and Class Action Treatise (NJICLE). While on the Bench Judge Schneider was the Compliance Judge for Arbitration in the District of New Jersey. He was also a member of the District’s Local Patent Rules, Information Technology and Pro Bono Committees. Judge Schneider was appointed by Chief Justice Roberts to be a member of the Federal-State Jurisdiction Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States (2010-2016). Judge Schneider is on the Advisory Board of the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey, is an Advisor to the NJ District Court Historical Society, and is a member of the District of New Jersey’s Lawyer’s Advisory Committee. Judge Schneider was an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers Law School-Camden from Spring 2009 to Spring 2017 where he taught courses on civil litigation. He was an Adjunct Professor at Rowan University from Fall 2018 to Fall 2019 where he taught a course on civil aspects pertaining to law enforcement. Judge Schneider has authored hundreds of written opinions that are available in F. Supp. 2d and 3d, F.R.D., Westlaw and Lexis. He is a frequent lecturer on various topics involving civil litigation including settlement, management of complex litigation and electronic discovery.