Hon. Michael F. O’Neill is a judge for the Somerset/Hunterdon/Warren County Superior Court (Vicinage 13) in New Jersey. He was appointed to the bench in 2013 and reappointed for tenure in 2019.
While on the bench, O’Neill has held assignments in the Family Division (2013 to 2014) in Somerset County and the Civil Division (2014 to present) in Hunterdon County.
Prior to his appointment, he was a partner in the law firm of Purcell, Ries, Shannon & Mulcahy. O’Neill joined the firm in 1983 and was named a partner in 1988. He began in the firm’s general liability section before becoming co-chair of its Insurance Practice Group. Then, in 2005, O’Neill joined the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution practice group. During his tenure there, he specialized in complex insurance matters and later gained experience in products liability, professional liability, corporate/commercial disputes, construction litigation, employment contracts and disputes, land use/zoning, intellectual property disputes, environmental cleanup, mass toxic torts, personal injury, and property damage litigation.
O’Neill was certified as a Civil Trial Attorney by the New Jersey Supreme Court's Board on Attorney Certification. He was also added to the roster of approved mediators for the New Jersey Statewide Civil Mediation Program.
O’Neill received a B.S. in accounting from St. Francis College in 1975. He went on to complete a J.D. at Seton Hall Law School in 1980. While a law student, O’Neill served as Editor-in-Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review.
After graduating from law school, he worked as a law secretary to the Hon. Mark A. Sullivan, Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
He was admitted to practice in New Jersey (1980), Pennsylvania (1981), the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (1980), the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (1981), the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1986), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1990), and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (1992).