NJSBA Board of Trustees Report
June 15, 2023
Note: This does not constitute official minutes
NJSBA Budget: The Board approved the fiscal year budget for 2023-2024 that allows the Association to continue providing meaningful membership experiences to better serve the legal community. Funding in the budget allows for new member benefits like the Member Assistance Program for mental health services, the legal research tool Decisis and enhanced CLE programming. The budget projects roughly $11 million in revenue and a breakeven bottom line.
Putting Lawyers First recommendations: The Board approved a series of recommendations from the Putting Lawyers First Task Force. The recommendations ask the Judiciary to allow attorneys to ethically respond to negative online reviews, be relieved as counsel with the litigant’s consent at any stage of a case, create a procedure for the presiding judge of each division or part to decide motions to be relieved as counsel so attorneys can address the issue without prejudicing their client to the judge hearing the case, and amend RPC 1.6 to permit the denial of withdrawal from representation where good cause and exceptional circumstances exist. The Board also supported a series of recommendations that address counsel fees and funding attorney’s fees, money held in escrow for a client and making the fee arbitration process more efficient.
Madden Assignments: The Board agreed to submit comments to the Supreme Court’s Working Group on Attorney Pro Bono Assignments. The comments, recommended by the NJSBA’s Judicial Administration Committee and largely due the NJSBA’s Right to Counsel report, call for the abolishment of the Madden assignment system of mandatory pro bono representation and provide a series of recommendations to achieve effective representation for litigants who are unable to afford counsel.
Judge Thornton Award: The Board voted to create an award for the late Assignment Judge Lisa P. Thornton that would be presented annually at the Diverse Judges Reception. Judge Thornton, the state’s first Black female assignment judge, passed away unexpectedly on May 27. Criteria for the award will be established by the NJSBA’s Diversity Committee. The New Jersey State Bar Foundation also created a scholarship in her memory, intended to aid young women attorneys of color attending law school.
State v. Cunningham: The Board agreed to seek amicus status in State v. Cunningham, a case that will decide the evidentiary reliability of the new Alcotest machine for use in DWI prosecutions.
Legislation: The Board supported the following reports and/or legislation:
NJ Law Revision Commission Draft Tentative Report Regarding the Mandatory Attorney Review Provision in the NJ Statute of Frauds, N.J.S. 25:1-5(h) – The report examines the Supreme Court decision in Moynihan v. Lynch, which addressed the validity of the mandatory attorney-review requirement for palimony agreements, and recommends changes to the statute for the Legislature to consider.