Election Day hearings will be conducted remotely, announced the Administrative Office of the Courts in a notice to the bar issued earlier. The notice outlines county-specific logistical details on court locations being used for election hearings and non-court locations to support election hearings, including Boards of Elections and other county facilities. Each location is expected to follow the COVID-19 protocols for all court staff and members of the public, including the wearing of face masks, social distancing, and use of plexiglass or other barriers.
Courthouses will be open to any voter who appears in person on an election challenge, and county personnel will be prepared to direct a voter who appears at the courthouse to the appropriate location to participate in a remote proceeding. Accommodations for participation in virtual hearings will be available from the voting locations.
For more information on county-specific procedures, go to njcourts.gov/notices.
Supreme Court Urged to Reconsider Attorney Advertising Opinion
The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) will participate in a challenge to the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion 735 (ACPE 735), which permits attorneys to purchase keywords in the name of a competitor attorney to divert the user directly to the purchasing attorney’s website. Oral arguments are scheduled for Nov. 10 before the Supreme Court. NJSBA member Bonnie Frost, who authored the brief in In Re Petition for Review of ACPE Opinion 735, will argue the matter on behalf of the Association.
Frost will argue that ACPE 735 misleads a consumer, albeit indirectly, by permitting purchasing attorneys to use their purchasing power to engage the internet browser to lead the consumer to a website other than the one actually being searched. The NJSBA urges the Supreme Court to consider the higher ethical standards to which attorneys are held and the unfair advantage purchasing attorneys obtain on being permitted to capitalize on another attorney’s good reputation.
The Bergen County Bar Association also submitted briefing challenging ACPE 735, represented by Andrew Cevasco and Thomas Loikith. The full briefing can be found at njsba.com.
Supreme Court Amends CLE Requirements to Require Two Hours of Diversity, Inclusion and Bias Elimination Credits
The Supreme Court adopted an amendment to Rule 1:42-1, governing continuing legal education requirements, and to CLE regulations 103:1 and 201:1, to require diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias training for attorneys licensed in New Jersey. The rule amendment is one of nine objectives outlined in the Supreme Court’s July 16, Action Plan for Ensuring Equal Justice.
The rule amendments increase the total credit hours required for professionalism and ethics from four to five credits and requires at least two credit hours of those five credit hours include qualifying coursework on diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias. The Judiciary’s Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement Program will offer a series of real-time virtual courses on implicit bias and elimination of bias throughout 2021. The programs are free of charge. The New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJICLE) also offers programs that include this curriculum. Look for them at njicle.com.
The amendments are effective Jan. 1, 2021, and attorneys in the current two-year continuing legal education reporting cycle that ends Dec. 31 of this year are not required to report compliance with the revised requirements.
This is a status report provided by the New Jersey State Bar Association on recently passed and pending legislation, regulations, gubernatorial nominations and/or appointments of interest to lawyers, as well as the involvement of the NJSBA as amicus in appellate court matters. To learn more, visit njsba.com.