In re Wade, ___ N.J. ___ (2022). In In re Wilson, 81 N.J. 451 (1979), the Supreme Court established a bright line rule that attorneys who knowingly misappropriate client funds will be permanently disbarred. Unlike in most other jurisdictions, there is no opportunity to reapply for admission to the New Jersey Bar. Today, in an opinion by Chief Justice Rabner that commanded a 6-0 vote (Judge Fuentes did not participate), the Court disbarred the respondent attorney under the Wilson rule. The attorney admitted having knowingly misappropriated client funds, and since the overall record clearly...

The Bold Sidebar is a podcast that its host, Jeff Horn, likes to say addresses “all things New Jersey Supreme Court.” As discussed here, I appeared on that podcast last year. Jeff was kind enough to invite me again, this time to discuss some cases that the Court decided in 2021 and some others that are on the Court’s docket for 2022. The first group of cases includes Winberry Family Partnership v. Borough of Rutherford, 247 N.J. 165 (2021) (ruling that plaintiffs can proceed to trial against both the Borough and its Tax Collector on Civil Rights Act claims); In re Attorney...

Last year, for the first time, this blog offered an analysis of the Supreme Court’s activity in the just-ended Term. It’s now time to do that for the 2020-2021 Term. As before, any errors in the discussion that follows are mine alone. The Court issued 66 full opinions, covering a total of 69 appeals. The decisions were split close to 50-50 between civil and criminal appeals, with 32 civil and 34 criminal matters. The Court granted review in 78 cases, since the final docket number of the Term was A-78-20. Thus, newly-granted reviews marginally exceeded the number of appeals...