Former Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno has accepted a position as partner with Roseland-based law firm Connell Foley.

In her new role, Guadagno will provide strategic counsel in a number of areas, including real estate, litigation, complex civil cases and criminal law, as well as provide legal advice to the firm’s partners and their clients.

“I did my time in public service and now it’s time to go back to doing what I was trained to do in the first place, which is practicing law,” said Guadagno, a Republican who lost the state’s gubernatorial race to Democrat Phil Murphy in November.

“I never expected to be the lieutenant governor of the state of New Jersey. I always expected to practice law,” she said in an interview. “So when Connell Foley came to me in January, I saw a growing firm with services for just about everyone.”

Guadagno said she got to know the firm as lieutenant governor working with Connell Foley managing partner Philip McGovern Jr. when he was a board member of Choose New Jersey. She also worked with Nevins McCann, another partner at the firm, to set up the Presidents Cup golf tournament in New Jersey last year.

“I’m very familiar with all of the areas in which Connell Foley practices in,” she said. “We are going to be working in the areas where I have exposure in not only in the last eight years, but in the last 35 years as a lawyer: real estate, litigation and corporate work. Connell Foley is a leader in those industries so I’m very excited to be joining them.”