Bar Report - Three to be honored at annual McLaughlin awards dinner
This honor is bestowed to members of the legal community who demonstrate the highest standards of civility, legal competence and professionalism in the practice of civil trial law.
January 01, 2018 at 07:00 AM
3 minute read
The chief federal district court judge, the immediate past chair of the Civil Law Section and an expert attorney on matters marine-related will be honored this year with the McLaughlin Award.
James J. McLaughlin, founding partner of McLaughlin & Cooper in Trenton, was the first recipient of the award in 2004. The New Jersey State Bar Association Civil Trial Bar Section bestows the honor to members of the legal community who demonstrate the highest standards of civility, legal competence and professionalism in the practice of civil trial law.
This year's recipients are Hon. Jose L. Linares, Chief Judge, United States District Court, District of New Jersey; Timothy E. Annin, partner at Craig Annin Baxter in Haddonfield; and Wendy Allyson Reek, counsel to the firm of Leary Bride Tinker and Moran in Cedar Knolls.
Linares was appointed to the Essex County Superior Court Bench in December 2000 by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and to the Federal District Court for the District of New Jersey by President George W. Bush in 2002. He began his legal career as a lawyer investigating corruption cases at the New York City Department of Investigation. After some years as an associate at Horowitz, Bross & Sinins in Newark, he established his own law firm in Bloomfield. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School.
Annin's legal career blends trial skills with a lifetime of recreational boating, a career as a surface warfare officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He has taken numerous cases to trial throughout the State of New Jersey including in federal and state courts. He is the former chair of the state bar's Civil Trial Bar Section, and its Automobile Reparations and the Elections committees.
Reek practices insurance defense litigation concentrating primarily on the defense of automobile negligence and premises liability personal injury cases. From 2002 to 2005, she was a Deputy Attorney General at the state Division of Law and Public Safety. She is the immediate past chair of the NJSBA Civil Trial Bar Section, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and a Trustee of the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey and the New Jersey State Bar Foundation. She also regularly participates as a speaker for New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education.
This year's awards dinner will be held Feb. 15 at the Palace at Somerset Hills in Somerset, N.J. To register, visit njsba.com.
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