John D. Onnembo, Of Counsel
John D. Onnembo, Jr., Esq., has 29 years of experience as an attorney in the construction industry.
From 1994 through 2006, John served several key roles at Morse Diesel International, Inc., a construction management and general contracting firm with an annual business volume in excess of $1 billion, culminating as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. While at Morse Diesel, John was involved with diverse projects such as the International Arrivals Terminal at Kennedy Airport, the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, the American Airlines Arena in Miami, the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago and the San Francisco Opera House in San Francisco.
John then served as Vice President/Corporate Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer from 2007 – 2010 for Turner Construction Company, the largest general building contractor in the United States.
In his earlier years in practice prior to becoming General Counsel to Morse Diesel, John practiced law for 11 years, first as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of New Jersey and then in private practice.
John left Turner in 2010 to return to the private practice of law. Since that time, he is actively involved in assisting parties in resolving disputes by serving as a mediator or arbitrator, representing owners and contractors in connection with ongoing construction projects, and advising on operational risk issues in construction projects. He is a member of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators, the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry and the New Jersey State Bar Association Construction Interest Section. He is on the roster of approved neutrals for the New York Supreme Court Commercial Division and New Jersey Superior Court.
John holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College and is a 1984 graduate of Fordham Law School. John lives in New Jersey with his wife Sharon, who is the Chair of the Organizational Management Department at the St. Joseph’s College Graduate School of Business, and their ten year-old triplets, John, Dominick and Vivian.
John’s vast experience in the construction industry as well as his many years of general counsel practice offers clients a degree of expertise that is unparalleled.