Diana C. Manning

Diana Manning is a Management Committee Member and Principal at Bressler. Diana has over two decades of experience in complex commercial litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. Diana is a Principal in Bressler’s New Jersey office, is Chair of the firm’s Business and Commercial Litigation practice group, and spearheads the firm’s Appellate practice team. Diana has developed a successful track record of trial verdicts and settlements, especially in complex matters. She also has a reputation as a strategic, thoughtful, and fearless advocate for all of her clients.

A distinguished trial lawyer, Diana is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney. She is also an accomplished appellate lawyer who has participated in six matters before the New Jersey Supreme Court, including arguing four times. Diana is an avid presenter and author on business litigation, legal ethics, products liability, and professional liability. She is the author of the New Jersey Chapter of The Law of Lawyer’s Liability: Fifty-State Survey of Legal Malpractice, ABA/First Chair Press, which provides an overview of the laws governing attorney malpractice in each state. 

To date, Diana’s distinguished career has brought her offices and honors from many professional and legal industry organizations. Diana served on the District XA Ethics Committee for 10 years and was appointed Chair by the New Jersey Supreme Court from 2017-2019. She is the current Secretary of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and is Past President of the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association, the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey, the Morris County Bar Association, and the Morris County Bar Foundation.

Experience

• Meisels v. Fox Rothschild LLP, 240 N.J. 286 (2020)
• Dimitrakopoulos v. Borrus, Goldin, Foley, Vignuolo, Hyman and Stahl, P.C., 237 N.J. 91 (2019)
• Francese v. Am. Modern Ins. Grp., Inc., 383 F. Supp. 3d 336 (D.N.J. 2019)
• Dimitrakopoulos v. Borrus, Goldin, Foley, Vignuolo, Hyman and Stahl,C., 237 N.J. 91 (2019), wherein the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the entire controversy doctrine bars a legal malpractice claim asserted by a former client who has failed to assert the claim in a previous fee collection action brought by the client’s attorney, provided the client had a fair and reasonable opportunity to assert the claim in the collection action.
• In re Accutane Litigation, 234 N.J. 340 (2018), the seminal case on admissibility of expert scientific testimony in which the New Jersey Supreme Court adopted consideration of the federal Daubert standards, and emphasized a trial court’s proper “gatekeeping” role in seeking to disallow generally unreliable, unsound, and unaccepted expert testimony from reaching a jury.
• Motorworld, Inc. v. Benkendorf, 228 N.J. 311 (2017), which dealt with novel issues of interpretation related to New Jersey’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.
• Guido v. Duane Morris, LLP, 202 N.J. 79 (2010), a landmark case that involved the impact of a settlement on a legal malpractice claim. Kranz v. Tiger, 390 N.J. Super. 135 (App. Div.),  den., 192 N.J. 294 (2007)
• Stoeckel v. Twp. of Knowlton, 387 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div.), den., 188 N.J. 489 (2006)
• Jerista v. Murray, 185 N.J. 175 (2005)
• Grzanka v. Pfeifer, 301 N.J. Super. 563 (App. Div. 1997), den., 154 NJ 607 (1998)

News & Alerts

Speaking Engagements & Events

Articles & Publications

Multimedia

Professional Affiliations

• Civil Trial Attorney – Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey (March 2011 - present)

• Treasurer, New Jersey State Bar Association
• Former Secretary – New Jersey State Bar Association, 2023-2024
• Former Chair – Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association
• Member – Appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct
• Chair – NJSBA Civil Trial Bar Section
• Member – NJSBA Amicus Committee
• Past President – New Jersey Women Lawyers Association
• Past President – Trial Attorneys of New Jersey
• Past President – Morris County Bar Association
• Board Member – Law360 New Jersey Editorial Advisory Board (2022-2024)
• Member - The South Asian Bar Association of New Jersey
• Member – Essex County Bar Association
• Member – American Bar Association
• Member – Defense Research Institute
• Member – New Jersey Defense Association
• Member – New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts (2008-2010)

Civic Involvement

• Trustee – New Jersey State Bar Foundation
• Member – NJSBF Project Development Committee
• Member – NJSBF Court Night Subcommittee
• Member – NJSBF Nominating Committee
• Fellow, American Bar Foundation
• Trustee Emeritus and Board Member – Morris County Bar Foundation
• Past President – Morris County Bar Foundation
• Board of Trustees, CASA of Morris and Sussex Counties, Inc.

Awards & Honors

• Selected to the list of Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent Lawyers

• Included in the list of Martindale-Hubbell's "Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers,” 2012-2013

These awards are conferred by Martindale-Hubbell. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey 

•  Included in the list of the Best Lawyers in America®, 2015-2025
• Received the Best Lawyers 2025 Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants "Lawyer of the Year" award in Newark, 2025
• Received the Best Lawyers 2020 Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants "Lawyer of the Year" award in Newark, 2020

These awards are conferred by Best Lawyers. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey      

• Selected to the list of the New Jersey Super Lawyers, 2009-2024

This award is conferred by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Selected to the list of Super Lawyers, "Top 100 Lawyers in New Jersey," 2018-2024

This award is conferred by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Selected to the list of Super Lawyers, “Top 50 Women Lawyers in New Jersey,” 2013, 2017-2024

This award is conferred by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Selected to the list of Super Lawyers, "Top 10 Lawyers in New Jersey," 2023

This award is conferred by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Recognized on the Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” List, 2006-2007

This award is conferred by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. 

• Recognized in the NJBIZ Power 50 in Law List, 2021-2023

This award is conferred by NJBIZ, a publication of Bridge Tower Media. A description of the selection methodology is available here.  No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Recognized in the NJBIZ Leaders in Law Honoree List, 2021, 2024

This award is conferred by NJBIZ, a publication of Bridge Tower Media. A description of the selection methodology is available here.  No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Recognized in the NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business Honoree List, 2021

This award is conferred by NJBIZ, a publication of Bridge Tower Media. A description of the selection methodology is available here.  No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Recognized in the NJBIZ Vanguard Series: "Leaders in Law," 2018

This award is conferred by NJBIZ, a publication of Bridge Tower Media. A description of the selection methodology is available here.  No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Recognized in the ROI-NJ Influencers in Law Inaugural Power List, 2022

This award is conferred by ROI-NJ. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Recognized in the ROI-NJ Influencers in Law Power List, 2023, 2024

This award is conferred by ROI-NJ. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Recognized in ROI Influencers: Women in Business, 2024

This award is conferred by ROI-NJ. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

• Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney

• Elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The ABF Fellowship comprises a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities. Membership in the Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

• Received the Rutgers Law Distinguished Alumni Award, 2024

• Received the Civil Practice Achievement Award presented by the Essex County Bar Association, 2022
• Received the "Professional Lawyer of the Year" Award presented by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law as a representative of New Jersey Women Lawyers Association, 2021
• Recipient of the Civil Practice Award presented by the Morris County Bar Association, 2021
• Received the "Professional Lawyer of the Year" Award presented by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law as a representative of the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey, 2017
• Received the "Professional Lawyer of the Year" Award presented by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law as a representative of the Morris County Bar Association, 2017