The following is a summary of actions taken at the July 15, 2016,
meeting of the New Jersey State Bar Association Board of Trustees at the New
Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick. This summary does not constitute official
minutes.
Member survey: A
pollster from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind gave an overview of
the NJSBA member poll that was conducted this spring through electronic, print
and telephone surveys, as well as several focus groups. The next steps include
determining how to move forward with the information and the recommendations
highlighted in the survey results to best address the needs of members as
identified in the survey results.
Blue Ribbon Commission
on Unmet Legal Needs: The board accepted the final report of the Blue
Ribbon Commission on Unmet Legal Needs, which spent a year conducting extensive
research and debated how to bring together the cadre of attorneys who are
underutilized with the portions of the population who experience persistent
unmet legal needs and cannot afford market rates. Additional discussion of the
conclusions and steps forward will be undertaken at a future meeting of the
board.
Committee name change:
The board approved a name change for the association’s Securities
Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement Committee. It will now be known as the
Securities Law Committee.
Contract approval: The
trustees approved contracts to finalize two events happening next year: the
Family Law Retreat, which will be held in March 22-26 in Cancun, and the
Mid-Year Meeting in Madrid next fall.
Government affairs: The
board agreed to support A-2159/S-2262,
which prohibits the use of anti-concurrent causation clauses in homeowners’
insurance policies.
American Bar
Association resolutions: The trustees supported several resolutions related
to diversity and inclusion that will be presented to the American Bar
Association’s House of Delegates, which is scheduled to meet in early August.
With the board’s support, the association’s delegates will be asked to vote in
favor of the resolutions when they are presented.
The
resolutions all focus on ensuring that people from diverse communities have
full participation in the legal system, from serving on juries to being
considered for positions for the federal bench.
A summary of the issues follows:
·
Urge appropriate parties to recognize the
importance of a diverse federal bench and to expand the diversity of the pool
of qualified candidates;
·
Create a rule prohibiting discrimination and
harassment in the justice system;
·
Urge federal, state, territorial and local law
enforcement to provide a uniform translation of the Miranda warning in Spanish;
·
Urge all providers of legal services to expand
and create opportunities at all levels of responsibility for diverse attorneys;
·
Urge the appropriate parties to adopt policies,
legislation and initiatives designed to eliminate the school-to-prison
pipeline; and
·
Amend the list of those who should not be
excluded from jury service to include marital status, gender identity and
gender expression.
All of the
resolutions can be found here.