FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Kate Coscarelli 732-937-7548 or [email protected]
Atlantic
City: Thomas H. Prol was installed
as the immediate past president of the New Jersey State Bar Association at the
organization’s annual conference last night at the Borgata Hotel, Casino &
Spa in Atlantic City. He remains an
active member of its executive committee, having concluded a one-year term as
the president of the state’s largest professional organization for attorneys.
Prol, a partner with Laddey,
Clark & Ryan of Sparta, practices environmental, real property and local
government law, as well as business counseling and litigation. He is a frequent
lecturer for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, has
served as an adjunct professor at both New York Law School and Rutgers
University, and will join the adjunct faculty of Seton Hall University School
of Law next fall. Prol has been selected for inclusion on the list of New
Jersey Super Lawyers and Rising Stars multiple times and was also been selected
for inclusion on the national Super Lawyers Business Edition list for
environmental law.
During Prol’s tenure as president, he
pursued the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, advocated for fairness and inclusion under the rule of law, promoted
the importance of a fair and impartial judicial branch, and was a proponent of ensuring
the law is dispensed by trained attorneys bound by ethical requirements.
“It has been a great privilege in my life
to serve as president of the state bar and to advocate on behalf of human
dignity, fairness and equality under law. I was proud to stand up and speak out
on the matters that affect attorneys, their practices and their clients. Members of our profession work every day in
this noble profession to move our nation toward that ‘more perfect union’ envisioned
by our Constitution. The New Jersey State Bar Association has been and will
continue to be an important vehicle and catalyst for change,” he said, adding,
“Going forward, I will continue to work to improve the justice system, and to protect
the rule of law and the independence of the Judiciary.”
Prol is the first openly gay officer in the
state bar’s 118-year history and served the association
extensively over a decade. He has been an advocate on civil rights issues,
including marriage equality and the New Jersey Anti-bullying Bill of Rights. In
addition, he served as vice chairman of the board of Garden State
Equality, the state’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil
rights organization. During his tenure as an NJSBA trustee, Prol
represented the association before various New Jersey courts, tribunals and
legislative bodies while serving on multiple sections and committees.
He was named
the state bar’s Young Lawyer of the Year in 2004 and that same year was lauded
as one of the “magnificent seven” New Jersey attorneys of the year by New
Jersey Lawyer newspaper.
In addition to being licensed
to practice law in both New Jersey and New York, and before numerous federal
district and appellate courts including the United State Supreme Court,
Prol is a graduate of New York Law School and holds both a master of
public health and bachelor’s degree from Emory University. Prior to law school,
he worked as an environmental
scientist and enforcement officer for the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. He also served two years as a volunteer in the U.S. Peace Corps in
Nepal and has held externships with the United States Attorney’s Office in the
Eastern District of New York, the New York City Commission on Human Rights,
CNN, and the Carter Presidential Center.
Prol is a
long-time resident of Sussex County; he is the son of a medical secretary and a World
War II Navy veteran who worked nearly five decades as a union
bricklayer.
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Prol is Immediate Past President of the New Jersey State Bar Association
Contact: NJSBA Communications Department
Tel: 732-937-7527
Email: [email protected]