"The Association has been a leading voice in the call to abolish the Madden system and allocate adequate funding for effective counsel providers. The current system, established 30 years ago under Madden v. Twp. of Delran, does not meet the constitutional mandate of effective assistance of counsel. Assigning counsel at random to a case, regardless of the attorney’s expertise or practice area deprives litigants of adequate representation. This creates a two-tiered justice system, where litigants unable to afford counsel do not receive effective representation and equal access to justice.
The recent findings by the Supreme Court’s Working Group on Attorney Pro Bono Assignments– which found that the Madden system is ineffective in matching attorneys with economically disadvantaged clients and should be replaced with a publicly funded system –mirror the recommendations in the NJSBA’s own report, Achieving Effective Representation In Right To Counsel Matters, issued in April 2021. These findings are also in harmony with the 16 county and affinity bar associations around the state that have adopted resolutions calling for the end of random Madden assignments. The Association stands ready to assist the state Judiciary, Legislature and Executive Branch in a potential transition to a system run by the Office of the Public Defender and Legal Services of New Jersey, agencies that are far better equipped to handle Madden cases. We will ask our sections and committees to review the working group’s recommendations and submit comments to the Court by June. It is astonishing that we have an entire body of law that ensures litigants have effective assistance of counsel and then we have Madden that mandates ineffective assistance of counsel. Now is the moment to abolish it."
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2023
Contact: Thomas Nobile
Director of Communications
Tel: 732-937-7527
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Statement of NJSBA President Jeralyn L. Lawrence on a report by the Supreme Court’s Working Group on Attorney Pro Bono Assignments
Contact: NJSBA Communications Department
Tel: 732-937-7527
Email: [email protected]