Meri Joy Van Blarcom Gupko

Meri Van Blarcom-Gupko was promoted to the position of Counsel at Wiley Malehorn Sirota & Raynes in 2008. She has been an attorney with the firm since 1998.

Meri has been published numerous times in the area of motorsports and is becoming an authority in the area. Her most recent article "Should Nascar Be Allowed to Choose the Tracks at Which it Runs its Races?" 16.2 Seton Hall J. Sport L. 101 (2006), released in 2007, was cited by the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States (ACCUS) in its brief filed in Kentucky Speedway's lawsuit against International Speedway Corporation.

Her two part series, "How Do You Handle A Potential Sponsor Concerned About Liability" and "Winning Over A Potential Sponsor Concerned About Legal Liability", was published in the February/March and April 2008 volumes of Ernie Saxton's Motorsports Sponsorship Marketing News.

Her other published articles include "Can Toyota's Entry in NASCAR be Dodged through litigation with Bill Davis Racing?" 14 Seton Hall J. Sport and Entertainment L. 101 (2004); Who is an employee? Let us count the ways 12 N.J.L. 871 (2003) 12 N.J.L. 871 (2003) (co-authored); "A Pit-Stop in the Courts Applying the Brakes to Keep Another From Crashing: A Comment of the Conflicts Between Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Championship Auto Racing Team", 7 Seton Hall J. Sport L. 513 (1997).

In 2008, Meri began presenting an annual legal issues seminar for racing promoters from all over the East Coast at the Promoter's Summit in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In addition, since 2005, she has been presenting an annual seminar on Legal Issues in Racing at Motorsports at its Atlantic City and Philadelphia area locations. 

Meri's practice areas serve the diverse needs of her clients and include general and public entity liability law, business law, commercial transactions, employment law, intellectual property, civil litigation, and land use.

She received her Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1997, where she served as the Research Assistant to Professor Elizabeth Defeis for two years. Meri was a member of the Seton Hall Journal of Sports Law. She had an internship with the Sports Law Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association researching various areas including statutes regulating athlete agents and an externship with the Internal Revenue Service focusing on intellectual property and related issues. Meri also participated in the Consumer Law Clinic where she advised and represented underprivileged clients on various consumer legal issues.

Meri received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University, Newark College of Arts and Sciences in 1994 with Honors and was selected to Phi Sigma Alpha (political science honor society). She also was the Chair of the College Republicans at Rutgers-Newark, 1992-1994.

She was admitted to the bars of New Jersey in 1997, New York in 1998 and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1999. Prior to joining Wiley Malehorn Sirota & Raynes, she served as law clerk to the Honorable Stephen F. Smith, Jr., New Jersey Superior Court, Morris County, 1997-98.

Meri is a breast cancer survivor and is involved with the Young Survival Coalition.