TRUSTEE
UNION COUNTY

Bruce H. Bergen

Bruce H. Bergen, on June 4, 2020, was appointed by the Union County Freeholder Board as County Counsel, leading the office of 18 lawyers which provides legal advice, guidance and representation to the Freeholders, County Manager and all administrative departments of the County; reviews the legal form and sufficiency of all contracts, deeds and other documents; represents the County in litigation, appeals in the courts, and before administrative agencies. He has been the Executive Deputy County Counsel since April 2019, and previously, from 1994 through 2009, and in 2011, he served as the Township Attorney for the Township of Springfield, providing day to day legal advice to the Township; drafting numerous ordinances and resolutions; representing Springfield in various litigation matters, including tax appeals, civil rights and employment matters, condemnation proceedings and defense of OPRA complaints; successfully defending a builders’ remedy suit and obtaining COAH approval of Springfield’s affordable housing plan; and overseeing a comprehensive ordinance recodification. He continued until December 31, 2019, as Special Housing Counsel for Springfield, and negotiated a settlement and entry of a Judgment of Repose, in Springfield’s most recent housing litigation. As of January 2019 he has served as the attorney to the Springfield Zoning Board of Adjustment. Over the years, Bergen has also served Springfield as Board of Health attorney, Rent Leveling Board attorney and has served as special counsel and special litigation counsel for various other municipalities and for Union County. He remains “of counsel” with the law firm of Krevsky, Silber & Bergen in Cranford, New Jersey, representing applicants before local land use boards.

In 2005, Bergen was awarded a Diplomate in Local Government Law by the NJILGA, and he has served as an Associate Editor of the Local Government Law Review since March 2006. He served two terms as a member of the District XII Attorney Ethics Committee and one year as chair, and was a long-time member and former two-term President of the Board of Central Jersey Legal Services. In January 2013, he was sworn in to the first of his two three-year terms as a member of the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, serving as Chairman in both 2016 and 2017.