Rebecca R. Petersen is a 2005 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law (Juris Doctor) and the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (political science). Rebecca holds licenses to practice in New Jersey, North Carolina (retired), and the District of New Jersey.

Rebecca began her career as an Assistant Prosecutor at the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. After serving two years in the Prosecutor’s Office, Rebecca took a lengthy absence from the field of law to focus on her family and raising her children. Rebecca volunteered to serve on her local school board and, in 2023, became the target of an unlawful campaign and abuse of power to silence her First Amendment rights and those of the community. It was Rebecca’s own fight against the Board of Education and Superintendent that drew her back into the field of law and to Murray-Nolan Berutti LLC. Rebecca continues her personal fight today.

Rebecca is a fierce advocate who recognizes that now, more than ever, we must stand and defend individual liberty, especially in public education. Rebecca focuses her work on abuses by school boards and superintendents against students, parents, board of education members, employees, and others. Rebecca has expertise in the New Jersey School Ethics Act and has defended Board members in various disciplinary filings against them, including the Code of Ethics charges and representation before the Commissioner of Education. Rebecca abhors abuses of power, particularly when those abuses come from public school districts supported by taxpayer money, and believes that such abuses must be challenged.

Rebecca serves as the Vice Chairman of the New Jersey Chapter of the National School Board Coalition. Rebecca spends her free time training Board members on their rights and responsibilities and how to engage in effective oversight. Rebecca also educates parents and students about student rights in school settings through SchoolhouseRights, which can be found at www.facebook.com/SchoolhouseRights.