New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Photo: Carmen Natale/ALM

Returning to what many in the profession said was an important tradition, Gov. Phil Murphy and the New Jersey State Bar Association have executed an agreement that provides for county bar associations to have a formal role in evaluating potential judicial and prosecutorial nominees.

Murphy signed the Hughes Compact, under which New Jersey governors have historically agreed to withhold nominations of judges, justices and prosecutors until the organization's Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee deems them qualified.

Unlike the revised version implemented under former Gov. Chris Christie, the latest version of the compact brings county bar associations back into the fold, a copy of the document obtained by the Law Journal indicates. It also changes JPAC's makeup, with an apparent aim to increase geographic as well as racial and ethnic diversity.