THE COMMITTEE ON CHARACTER

The Committee on Character is appointed by the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and serves as an arm of the Board of Bar Examiners in guiding the Supreme Court with regard to the admission of attorneys in New Jersey. The state is divided into four Parts by counties. There are two additional parts (essentially North and South) which consider out-of-state applications and assist the other Parts. Thus the Committee ultimately has six Parts. Each part has a chair-person. There is one statewide chair in charge of the entire Committee. Committee members must be licensed attorneys of the State of New Jersey in good standing with excellent reputations for honesty and integrity. There is no set number of attorneys for any part but generally there are approximately 50 attorneys on the Committee at all times plus the Part chairs and the statewide chair. Attorneys serve for three-year terms. Generally, they can be reappointed for up to four such terms at the discretion of the Chief Justice. The official Clerk of the Committee on Character is the Clerk of the Supreme Court who acts as a liaison to the Court. The Supreme Court employs staff attorneys, investigators and support staff to assist in the discharge of its duties. The names of the members of the Committee, the Part in which they serve as well as their term expiration dates are published in the New Jersey Lawyers Diary and Manual each year. It is considered an extremely high honor to be appointed to this Committee. Many of its members, such as my predecessor, Frank M. Lario, Jr., have been appointed to the bench.