Succession Planning is Coming to New Jersey – Will You Be Ready?
Category: On Demand
Member Price: $208
Non-Member Price: $260
Areas of Law: Ethics
| NJ CLE: | NJ CLE information: This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 3 hours of total CLE credit, including 3.0 in Ethics (Full Credits Available: NJ Ethics: 3.0). |
| NY CLE (t&nt): | NY Ethics Non-Transitional: 3.0 |
| PA CLE: | PA Ethics Credit: 2.5
New: No PACLE fee is required for this program. To earn PA CLE credits, a valid PA Bar ID number must be entered into the CLE form provided after attending the program. |
Keynote
Moderator
- Steven L. Menaker, Esq.
- Member of the Disciplinary Review Board
Chasan Lamparello Mallon & Cappuzzo, PC, Secaucus
Presenters
- Thomas R. Curtin, Esq.
- Past President, New Jersey State Bar Association
McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP, Morristown - Catherine Finnerty, Esq.
- Goldman & Beslow, LLC, East Orangeis an associate with Goldman & Beslow, LLC with offices in East Orange, Newark, Paterson and Jersey City, New Jersey. She devotes a substantial portion of her practice to bankruptcy and debtor-creditor negotiations and handles all issues pertaining to Chapter 7, Chapter 13, foreclosure defense and mediation, debt collection defense, debtor-creditor negotiations and consumer representation. In addition to bankruptcy and debtor-creditor law, Ms. Finnerty has experience in real estate matters, simple Wills, powers of attorney, living wills, and municipal court matters involving traffic tickets, disorderly persons offenses, and violations of municipal ordinances. She also represents clients in residential real estate transactions, and has experience helping property owners who desire to sell their property via short sale, are at risk of foreclosure, or who cannot make their mortgage payments.
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nAdmitted to practice law in New Jersey and New York, and before the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Ms. Finnerty has been a member of the American and New York State Bar Associations and the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association. She has been a member of the NJSBA Bankruptcy Law and Women in the Profession Sections, and is Secretary of the Solo and Small Firm Section. Ms. Finnerty is a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and the American Bankruptcy Institute. She has also volunteered with South Jersey Legal Services, Legal Services of New Jersey and the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, and represents clients throughout their entire bankruptcy cases.
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nMs. Finnerty received her undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Barnard College, Columbia University, where she was the recipient of the New York Building Industry Scholarship and the Eugene Raskin Prizer for Spanish. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review and the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award in Torts.
n(8/23) - Carol Johnston, Esq.
- Former Counsel To the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics
Carol Johnston Ethics Law, Princeton - Alicia F. Williams, Esq.
- Director and Counsel, New Jersey Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, Trenton
To protect client interests if an attorney is unable to practice because of disbarment, disability or death, the Administrative Office of the Courts will now request all New Jersey attorneys in private practice to disclose what succession planning the attorney has undertaken. This will begin with the 2026 annual attorney registration.
Those in law firms will be able to rely upon their employers to assign successor attorneys for their clients. But for the more than 13,000 attorneys who are solos or in two-person law firms, the burden of succession planning – with its ethical issues and practical problems – rests exclusively on them.
A distinguished panel will discuss New Jersey succession planning, the ethical issues and practical problems in succession planning, strategies for developing a succession plan. Panelists will also answer questions and offer solutions to problems raised by attorneys in other states with mandated succession planning.
Register today!
Program Agenda:
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10:00 | Introduction - Steven L. Menaker, Esq.
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10:05 | The Registration Process - Alicia F. Williams, Esq.
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10:20 | What Other States Have Done - Catherine Finnerty, Esq.
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10:35 | Ethical Considerations - Carol Johnston, Esq.
Competence (1.1), diligence (1.3), communications (1.4), confidentiality, conflicts (1.7), safekeeping property, including client files (1.15), terminating representation (1.16), sale of law practice (1.17), Reporting malpractice (8.3) -
11:05 | Practical Issues - Thomas R. Curtin, Esq. and Steven L. Menaker, Esq.
- Selecting the successor
- Malpractice coverage
- Financing the successor (life insurance)
- Tips for managing or selling another’s practice
- Closing your own practice
- Retirement issues
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11:35 | Suggested Plan Components – Panel
- Written plan
- Will provision
- Insurance to fund
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12:05 | Serving as Attorney Trustee - Alicia F. Williams, Esq.
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12:20 | Frequential Asked Questions (Some Suggestions) and Q&A - Panel
- What if I discover a potential malpractice claim against the planning attorney?
- The planning attorney’s former client is asking questions. What information can I disclose?
- Can I represent the planning attorney’s former clients?
- What are the pros and cons of giving someone access to my trust account?
- Am I permitted to also be the attorney for the planning attorney?
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12:30 | Adjourn