The New Jersey State Bar Association’s Board of Trustees met this month to take positions on pending legislation, other law changes and amicus matters.
The association’s Board of Trustees met on July 18 at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick. The trustee board sets policy and official positions of the association, which is the largest organization of judges, lawyers and other legal professionals in New Jersey.
The trustees supported two pieces of pending legislation. The trustees backed A3456/S2100. The pending bill would remove the prohibitions on voting by people who are convicted of an indictable offense who are on parole, probation or serving a sentence, which would end the historic disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions and affects roughly 100,000 people. They also voted to support A4699/S2938, which would make it a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act for anyone to try to get companies and businesses to hire them to file an annual report, without saying that the state provides a portal that the companies can choose to use.
The association will submit comments on the proposed New Jersey Guardianship Statutes and portions of Title 3B. The proposal is an overhaul of the guardianship act and the association’s Elder and Disability Law Section expressed the belief that the existing statutes provide the necessary protections and noted that the changes may not accomplish the intended goals and could hurt New Jersey’s most vulnerable residents.
Several dynamic speakers were approved to offer programs for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education. The speakers include: historian Glenn LeBoeuf, who is speaking later this month on the role of the women who fought in the Civil War and the effect their participation has had on the law; Stephen Easton, who will revisit Irving Younger’s 10 Commandments of cross examination, will be scheduled for the fall; Barron K. Henley will speak on mastering Microsoft Word for lawyers in the coming weeks; Marty Latz will return to the seminar line-up with advice on negotiation strategies this fall; comedian Sean Carter will provide an entertaining look at ethics dilemmas during the holiday season; and Tina Weber and Lisa Marcy will provide a Halloween offering called “The Psychopaths Among Us – Unveiling and Conquering Them to Win Your Cases.”
The trustees also agreed to seek additional information in State v. Andrews to determine if the association will ask for amicus status. The case involves whether a criminal defendant can be forced to disclose the PIN numbers or passwords for their electronic devices.