Collins, Rashad M.

PRIMARY AREAS OF PRACTICE

Mr. Farsiou specializes in the areas of labor and employment law, civil rights litigation, general liability insurance defense claims, and the representation of public officials and entities. He represents private clients, municipalities, school boards and other public entities in litigation matters in both the State and Federal court systems. Mr. Farsiou acts as defense counsel for Scottsdale Insurance Company, Markel Southwest Underwriters, Western Heritage Insurance Company, Selective Insurance Company, and various Joint Insurance Funds. Mr. Farsiou focuses on civil rights cases in both federal and state courts that allege violations of 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, The Americans With Disabilities Act, Title VII, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and related statutes. He also provides counseling to employers regarding human resource issues and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and its regulations. Mr. Farsiou also handles contract negotiations for amateur and professional athletes.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

Mr. Farsiou represents and performs services on behalf of private clients and public entities. He has also performed services for the following insurance companies: Scottsdale Insurance Company, Selective insurance Company of America, Specialty Claims Management, Scibal Insurance Group, Markel Southwest Underwriters, Murdock Claims Management Corp, and Summit Risk Services on behalf of school districts and municipalities including Holland Township, Hopewell Township, Salem Township, Clinton Township, Pohatcong Township, Borough of Rochelle Park, Borough of Lodi, Borough of Palisades Park, Borough of Flemington, Borough of Washington, West Windsor, Randolph and others.

Mr. Farsiou successfully co-chaired a 5-month trial in Mercer County representing the West Windsor Board of Education, its Superintendent, Varsity girls' basketball coach, Athletic Director, and Principal. In that case, the plaintiff claimed the girls' varsity basketball coach caused her to suffer from an eating disorder by yelling at her and advising her to eat better. This case, Besler v. West Winsdor, et.al., Docket No. MER-L-236-98, gained national recognition and was featured on Good Morning America, Court TV, ESPN and Sports Illustrated. The Court granted directed verdict nullifying a jury's award of 1.5 million dollars.

In addition, Mr. Farsiou appears regularly in State Court, Federal Court and Municipal Court.

EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Mr. Farsiou graduated from Clemson University in 1997 with a B.S. in Accounting. He graduated from The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University in 2000, where he received his J.D. Mr. Farsiou is admitted to the bars of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

While in his third year of law school, Mr. Farsiou was a member of the Labor Law Moot Court team and was an intern at the Harrisburg District Attorney's Office.

Upon graduating from law school, Mr. Farsiou worked two years at a boutique employment and labor firm representing management. In addition to consulting and litigating private clients in labor and employment law issues, Mr. Farsiou also negotiated union contracts and handled all of the firm's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cases. He joined Gebhardt & Kiefer, P.C. as an Associate in 2002. He has been a Partner since January 2008.

PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS

Mr. Farsiou is a member of the New Jersey Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association and Hunterdon County Bar Association.

Within his community, Mr. Farsiou is a travel baseball coach for highly competitive teams in the Central New Jersey area. From 2005 through 2007, he was the Manager of the Readington Renegades, who reached the 14U Babe Ruth World Series in 2005 finishing 5th in the country. He compiled a record of 115-15-1, winning three consecutive State championships and one Regional championship. He is currently the Manager of the Flemington Post 159 Senior Legion Baseball Team. Many of his players have gone on to play college baseball and two are playing professionally with the Washington Nationals.

Mr. Farsiou is also the Vice President of the Pyramid Baseball League, which oversees all of the legion baseball programs in Hunterdon, Somerset and Warren counties.

He is currently playing baseball for the Whitehouse Giants and the Hunterdon Red Sox.