Frank Leanza, the man appointed as town attorney on Jan. 11, doesn’t look or sound like your typical lawyer. While he dresses and acts like the professional he is, he seems to lack the hard edge most people associate with the legal profession, greeting people with a warm smile and a hearty handshake. The fact is, Leanza didn’t begin his professional career as an attorney, but as an engineer. He evolved into the legal profession as the intricate details of engineering became too complex for most attorneys to comprehend. And that, he said, has made all the difference in his approach to the legal profession. Born in New York City, Leanza went to grammar school in West New York, high school in North Bergen and received an initial degree in engineering from Kean College, then known as Newark College. He currently serves as the municipal judge in Guttenberg, as well as the attorney for the Secaucus Municipal Utilities Authority (a position he will shortly give up to become town attorney), the attorney for the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, and the counsel to the West New York Housing Authority. “I’m a young 50,” Leanza said last week with a laugh, although people who have worked with him have also called him a dedicated family man, willing to pick up his roots and move to Glen Ridge for three years in order to make sure his daughter got a good education. “I’ve been in practice for 22 years and I got my legal degree after I got two degrees and a master’s in engineering.” Leanza, who will replace Donald Scarinci as town attorney, is a Hoboken resident with an office in Hackensack. He has served as SMUA attorney since 1995. “I try to have respect for everyone,” he said. “People are just trying to get along, raise their families and make a living.” Cost was the issue Mayor Dennis Elwell said Leanza would take over the day-to-day legal matters, while Scarinci will be kept on as a special attorney to deal with cases still open. “Donald Scarinci has served Secaucus capably for several years, and we all hold his legal expertise in high regard,” Elwell said. “He is a very professional and competent attorney.” Elwell has long been a critic of the town’s high legal bills, and though Scarinci and Hollenbeck reduced their fees from $350,000 to $250,000 last year, Leanza comes in with a contract not to exceed $125,000. Elwell said Scarinci was offered the same contract, but declined to continue as town attorney. “The substantial size of Donald’s firm makes it financially untenable for him to continue providing the same legal services in 2000 at approximately half the compensation he received in 1999,” Elwell said. “I am very excited at the prospect of appointing a person as talented as Judge Leanza, while still substantially reducing legal fees for our taxpayers.” Leanza said he could supply the service at a lower cost because his firm is smaller than Scarinci’s. “Donald’s firm was large and had a large overhead,” Leanza said. “I don’t have that as a consideration.” Scarinci agreed that overhead was the central issue. “If Frank is able to provide the same service at half the price with a guarantee, then the town has to go with him,” Scarinci said. “His firm has six attorneys, and mine has 26. Some of my attorneys are partners who make salaries nearly as large as this contract.” Scarinci said he was completely gratified by the way Elwell treated him. “We’re still part of the team,” Scarinci said. “There has been no change in feeling and we will still be here to serve the town if it needs our service.” Leanza has a reputation for lower fees, even on the SMUA. When $50,000 was budgeted to cover his costs, and he never spent the full amount, and in most cases over his five-year term, didn’t even approach the full amount. “I see that as a cap, not a starting point,” Leanza said. “I don’t see a reason why I should charge that much unless some unexpected issue comes up and the town is forced to respond.” Leanza said most of his clients were private businesses or individuals who had to pay these costs out of their pocket. “I’ve made it a point to be reasonable,” he said. “It has to do with my being an engineer before my becoming a lawyer. An engineer is paid to solve problems, to find solutions, where as an attorney is paid to look out for problems.” Expanded role Leanza said the change will expand his range of duties from the current focus on sewerage treatment and sewer hookups to work that will cover almost every aspect of municipal services including fire protection, trash collection, recreation and other activities. Still, he said, his overall function will remain the same. “For the most part, both the SMUA and the town are governed by the same state regulations,” he said, “such as issues on open public meeting, contract law and various labor issues. My work with the town will simply have a broader focus.” Leanza said he would be fairly accessible, since he passes through the town two or three times a day on his way to and from his office in Hackensack. “In fact, It is often easier to get to various places in Hudson County from outside Hudson County than from other parts of Hudson County,” he said. Leanza, who replaced Donald Scarinci on the SMUA in 1995 when Scarinci became the town attorney, now replaces Scarinci again. Leanza said he was encouraged to submit a proposal for the job, and he did. He said that although he enjoyed his position on the SMUA, he felt a bit bored. “The SMUA is run so well that they have little use of my services,” he said, noting that while he sees the town moving in a positive direction, he also believes the work will be more challenging. Mayor Elwell, who has had differences with the SMUA in the past, said even in opposition, Leanza was already respectful, a manner he found admirable. He said he looked forward to working with Leanza as the town attorney. “Judge Leanza brings the highest levels of professionalism, integrity and ability to his new position,” Elwell said. “I have monitored his work at the SMUA and found him to be very talented and very dedicated to this community. He immediately becomes an integral part of our administration.” Leanza, who currently serves as municipal judge in Guttenberg, graduated from Newark College in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science along with a host of honors. He got his doctorate from Rutgers School of Law in 1978, his Master of Science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1979, and his master of laws from New York University School of Law in 1982. From 1972 to 1975, he worked at a special projects engineer and construction supervisor for New Jersey Bell Telephone Company. From 1976 to 1978, he served as an assistant to the executive director of the New Jersey Public Utility Commission. From 1978 to 1979, he was worked as a tax consultant for Touche Ross and Company in Newark. From 1980 to 1984, he worked at an attorney with Harword Lloyd, which provided legal counsel to various public entities, including the borough of Fort Lee. Since 1984, he has been a senior partner in the firm of Leanza and Agripidis and has acted as special counsel for the Borough of Carteret.