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Judges, lawyers and legal professionals from across the state gathered at the New Jersey Law Center on Oct. 6 for the return of the NJSBA’s Diversity Summit. The annual event featured educational and networking programs that dove deep into issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the legal profession.

The first Hispanic American woman to serve as president of the New Jersey State Bar Association and the state’s oldest and largest professional organization for the Black legal community will be honored with the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Narol Award, which recognizes individuals and entities that have spearheaded inclusion and made strides for women and diverse attorneys. Evelyn Padin will receive the award for 2021 and the Garden State Bar Association will receive the award for 2022. The Narol Award is named for Mel Narol, a charter member of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Task Force on Diversity who worked tirelessly to make diversity efforts ...

Where do you go with two degrees in philosophy ( summa cum laude ) from an Ivy League school, a law degree from the University of Chicago, two years at a large New York law firm and a tenured professorship at Hofstra Law School? Standup comedy, of course. “Sometimes people ask me, ‘Why did you go to law school?’ I’m like, ‘I’m setting up a joke I’m going to tell in approximately 14 years,’” comedian Liz Glazer quipped last week during her routine at the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) Diversity Committee’s annual New Year kickoff celebration. NJSBA Trustee James A. Lewis V, who co-chairs the committee with Maria P. Vallejo, introduced Glazer and ...

Some much-needed comic relief will be delivered when the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) Diversity Committee kicks off its annual New Year’s celebration on Jan. 26 with a virtual comedy set by Liz Glazer. The standup comedian, writer and actor is a former tenured law professor who recently won the Boston Comedy Festival. Festivities will also include “speed networking” events. The free event is presented in cooperation with the NJSBA Labor and Employment Law Section, LGBT Rights Section, Minorities in the Profession Section, and Women in the Profession Section, as well as the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey, Association of ...

In a case that dominated the headlines more than 30 years ago, Kevin D. Richardson and four other Black and Latino teens were falsely convicted of a brutal attack on a woman jogging in Central Park. The Central Park Five were eventually exonerated after serving time in prison. Their story was recently depicted in the film “When They See Us.” With the country galvanized by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police and a national conversation underway on systemic racism, Richardson will discuss his experiences, including those as an advocate for criminal justice reform, at a New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) virtual symposium titled “Race and the ...

The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) has asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to amend mandatory continuing legal education (CLE) requirements for attorneys to include programs on diversity, inclusion and the elimination of bias. In a letter sent July 10 to Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, NJSBA President Kimberly A. Yonta wrote, “the murder of George Floyd and other unarmed African Americans, paired with the devastating disparate impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on communities of color, has left us all in search of ways to combat persistent racism in our society.” While there are no easy solutions, Yonta wrote, “any solution must include the element ...

The following essay was written by Norberto A. Garcia, a certified civil trial attorney and partner at Javerbaum Wurgaft in Jersey City, who also currently serves as the second vice-president of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and co-chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Diversity Committee. This piece has been edited for length and was originally published in the Diversity Committee’s Oct. 2017 newsletter, one of many publishing opportunities for members of the New Jersey State Bar Association. For more information, email [email protected] . Diversity issues touch upon every aspect of a trial lawyer’s practice—from the initial client ...

One was just 13, and the other merely 11, but early exposure to the power of the law had a lasting impact on the two judges honored Wednesday at the association’s Diverse Judges’ Reception. In a presentation at the New Jersey Law Center, U.S. District Chief Judge Jose L. Linares was recognized with the association’s Distinguished Judicial Service Award from the Federal Practice and Procedure Section of the NJSBA. Superior Court Judge Charles W. Dortch Jr. was honored with the Justice Thurgood Marshall Award from the Diversity Committee. ‘The law could make a positive change’ Dortch was 11 when he became one of the first African-American children to attend ...