In its final gathering before the Annual Meeting and Convention in May, the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Board of Trustees acted on several measures and recognized nine outgoing Trustees whose seats will be filled in the next term.
NJSBA President Timothy McGoughran paid tribute to outgoing Trustees Janice L. Heinold, David Edelberg, Justin R. White, William C. Popjoy III, Richard F. Klineburger III, Thomas P. Fischer, Roger Lai, Cory Rothbort and Christopher J. Keating for their dedication to the Association.
The Board accepted a report of the Family Law Section’s Guardian ad Litem Task Force that recommends amendments to the current rules governing guardians ad litem. The Task Force determined that guardian ad litem assignments are not done uniformly or with consistency throughout the state and required reforms. The Board voted to send the report and recommendations to the Judiciary for consideration.
On a recommendation from the Membership Committee, the Board added Ember IT to the NJSBA’s roster of member benefits. Ember IT is a consulting company that provides IT assistance for law firms, including onboarding, software purchasing, cybersecurity and disaster recovery. Through the new benefit, NJSBA members will receive three months of additional free services with any three-year agreement.
The Board supported the following legislation:
A3371 Stanley/S2990 Gopal – a bill that provides for the immediate issuance of marriage and civil union licenses.
A3517 Speight/S2331 Ruiz – a measure that establishes procedures for collecting child support on behalf of children under the custody of child services.