Ethics
Overturning 45-year precedent, New Jersey gives disbarred lawyers second chance
Former New Jersey lawyers who are disbarred will in most cases be allowed to apply for reinstatement after five years, the New Jersey Supreme Court has decided. (Illustration by Sara Wadford/ABA Journal/Shutterstock)
Former New Jersey lawyers who are disbarred will in most cases be allowed to apply for reinstatement after five years, the New Jersey Supreme Court has decided.
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s Oct. 15 order and determination reject the approach that it adopted in a 1979 case that imposed automatic and permanent disbarment for knowing misappropriation of funds. Now, lawyers disbarred for misappropriation, as well as lawyers disbarred for other reasons, can apply for readmission in five years as long as several conditions are met.
Law360 and Law.com are among the publications with coverage.
New Jersey now joins 41 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing disbarred attorneys to seek readmission. Most of those jurisdictions allow an application for reinstatement after five years.
But not every lawyer can apply for reinstatement in New Jersey. The state supreme court retained the authority to impose permanent disbarment in future egregious cases and to block successive applications for reinstatement for particular attorneys, according to an Oct. 15 press release on the new admission process.
The path back to a law license won’t be easy. Lawyers seeking readmission must meet several conditions, including requirements that they prove fitness to practice law, that they take and pass the New Jersey bar exam and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, that they complete specified continuing legal education courses, and that they file a statement of restitution paid to former clients and a client protection fund.
The New Jersey Supreme Court acted on a recommendation of the so-called Wade Committee, also known as the state supreme court’s Special Committee on the Duration of Disbarment for Knowing Misappropriation. It is named for lawyer Dionne Larrel Wade, who was disbarred after a random audit showed that she sometimes took money from her client trust account to pay bills. She always repaid the money, however, and she had no prior discipline.
Wade had represented underserved clients and was honored for her pro bono work.
“Everything I’ve done in my life was to become an attorney and to help people,” Wade told the ABA Journal in a December 2022 article.
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s opinion disbarring Wade convened the special committee to evaluate whether disbarment should always be permanent. Twenty-one of the committee’s 28 members recommended a path to readmission.
New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner commented on the readmission decision in the press release.
“Going forward, New Jersey’s legal system will have a robust and fair review process that not only protects the public but also affords disbarred attorneys, who have taken appropriate steps, a chance to practice law again after five years,” Rabner said.
