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.
The New Jersey Supreme Court updated the status of a 2020 Action Plan to Ensure Equal Justice, which outlined immediate items and ongoing efforts aimed at ensuring access and fairness for everyone in the court system. The update includes a summary of nine areas in which improvements have been made and where processes have been put into place to address ongoing reforms. The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) provided comments on the action plan and encouraged recommendations to advance the Court’s goals.
“The New Jersey State Bar Association applauds the New Jersey Supreme Court for its continued attention to racial and ethnic fairness and to improving equity in the courts as outlined in its recently issued update on its action plan for ensuring equal justice,” said NJSBA President Domenick Carmagnola. “Achieving equal justice under the law is crucial to the judicial process and to public confidence in our justice system.”
In the first year of the plan, the Court highlighted its achievements in the following arenas:
- New jury selection questions and additions to model jury instructions were approved to support juror impartiality and reduce the effects of implicit bias. They will be implemented later this year in conjunction with a new juror orientation video on impartiality and implicit bias. The NJSBA offered its general support for this initiative, but suggested additional steps to meet the laudable goal of enhancing juror impartiality through education, awareness and increased discussion of implicit bias. The NJSBA also asked for the opportunity to preview the information to be provided to jurors before it is finalized. Furthermore, as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Andujar, which dealt with implicit bias in jury selection, the Court announced a Judicial Conference on Jury Selection to be held in “late 2021.” The NJSBA has established a working group to analyze information ahead of the conference to ensure meaningful participation by the group’s representatives. As a result of the Court’s decision in State v. Dangcil, where the NJSBA participated as amicus to urge greater transparency in the jury selection process, the Court directed that juror demographic data be collected. The NJSBA had recommended that such information be collected in the report of the Pandemic Task Force’s Resumption of Jury Trials Committee.
- The Court approved a framework for standardized statewide review of certain adults and juveniles subject to probation supervision to consider termination of supervision where it was deemed to be beyond a rehabilitative purpose. The review and ensuing judicial actions ended the disproportionate impact on the Black and Latinx communities associated with court involvement.
- An Oct. 20, 2020 order was issued by the Court to vacate all outstanding discretionary juvenile fines, which it found significantly and disproportionately impacted youth of color and served only to prolong involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice systems. It further established a process for local courts to annually dismiss such warrants.
- Amendments to the continuing legal education (CLE) requirements became effective January of this year to require all judges and attorneys to complete two hours of coursework in diversity, inclusion, and elimination of bias, as part of an expanded five-hour requirement for ethics and professionalism. The NJSBA had proposed a CLE requirement encompassing diversity and inclusion issues, and wholeheartedly supported the Court’s action.
- New Jersey expungements statutes were amended to reduce the waiting periods and expand the types of offenses eligible for expungement. The efforts follow the enactment of the law expanding marijuana use in New Jersey and decriminalization of certain marijuana and hashish offenses.
- The Court lauded the development and implementation of the municipal case resolution system to make available online a system to resolve certain traffic offenses remotely without an appearance. The NJSBA has worked with the Court to ensure the system provides adequate notices to defendants about their constitutional rights, including the right to an attorney, and that they system is available to defendants’ counsel.
- The Judiciary expanded and improved language access services during the COVID-19 pandemic to include simultaneous interpreting to maximize the efficiency of remote proceedings.
- The Court amended Court Rule 1:38 to exclude from public access certain categories of records in landlord tenant matters. This addressed the immediate need to protect those residents who were impacted by COVID-19 and the inability to pay rent.
- Finally, the Court highlighted its efforts to improve equity in landlord tenant proceedings by establishing the exemption from other pro bono requirements for attorneys who provide at least 25 hours of uncompensated representation to qualifying tenants and landlords. It further established a new process for residential landlord tenant cases to include new pleadings, revised processes and pretrial events to support “a more robust and transparent record, so as to enable early identification of issues, differentiated management of cases, and opportunities for parties to connect with rental and legal assistance resources and to resolve disputes without trial. The NJSBA largely supported the proposed changes and urged the delay of mandatory settlement conferences until the new system took effect.
Moving beyond 2021, the Court signaled areas of concern including procedural safeguards and equitable outcomes for individuals with mental health challenges; supporting employment opportunities for clients and graduates of the drug court and probation programs; requiring training on implicit bias and the elimination of bias for all Judiciary employees; addressing potential disparities in court policies and protocols; expanding access to legal representation at all levels of the courts; broadening diversity and inclusion in legal and non-legal court appointments; a review of the non-dissolution (FD) docket; modernizing aspects of court access and records; and utilizing inclusive and easy to understand language in court communications.
“We look forward to working with the courts and providing additional feedback as they move forward with the specifics of the nine initiatives in the report,” said Carmagnola.