Sills Cummis Presents Garden State Bar Scholarship

GSBA 44TH AWARDS GALA: Pictured, From left to right: Dara A. Govan, Esq. (AUSA/GSBA Immediate Past President), William Rogers, Esq. ( Skoloff & Wolfe/ GSBA President), Clifford D. Dawkins Jr., Esq. (Sills Cummis & Gross), Alexis Miller (Scholarship Recipient and Rutgers Law Student), David I. Rosen, Esq. ( Sills Cummis & Gross), Sobande Afolabi, Esq. (Neighborhood Health Services Corporation/Chair, GSBA Scholarship Committee), and Joyce Maxberry, Esq. (AUSA/Scholarship Committee Member). [Photo Credit: BrianBranch-Price.]

the Garden State Bar Association 's 44th Anniversary Scholarship & Awards Gala held at the Princeton Marriott on June 15, Sills Cummis & Gross of Newark sponsored  a scholarship for a current law student. David I. Rosen, chair of the firm's employment and labor practice group, and Clifford D. Dawkins Jr., an associate in the practice group, presented the scholarship to the recipient, Alexis Miller, a Rutgers Law School student.  The GSBA was created to support African-American and other attorneys of color to gain and maintain permanence in the legal profession in New Jersey. The association 26 years ago created a scholarship fund to help African-American law students attending schools in New Jersey. Traditionally, one student from each of New Jersey's law schools was chosen to receive a scholarship, but the GSBA has expanded the scholarship program to permit New Jersey residents attending law schools outside of New Jersey to apply, according to a release from Sills Cummis, which said the firm advocates for  minority hiring practices and is involved in a number of minority hiring, retention and diversity initiatives. 

Federal Bar Installs New President, Issues 2019 Brennan Awards

The Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey announced the 2019 “William J. Brennan Jr. Award” recipients, the swearing-in of its new officers and trustees, and the annual John J. Barry scholarship recipients, on June 12 at Mayfair Farms in West Orange. The event was attended by some 500 members of the federal bench and bar, according to the organization.

AFBNJ President Edward T. Kole; the Hon. Freda L. Wolfson, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey; and the Hon. Stanley R. Chesler, United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey and Brennan Award recipient, on June 12, 2019 at Mayfair Farms in West Orange.

The Brennan awards were presented to the U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler of the District of New Jersey, and to Joseph P. LaSala, a partner at McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter in Morristown. The award honors the legacy of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brennan's devotion to free expression, and is given to an outstanding jurist, attorney, or other individual whose contributions to the law deserve special recognition.

The Hon. Stanley R. Chesler; AFBNJ President Edward T. Kole; and Joseph P. LaSala, Brennan Award recipient, on June 12, 2019 at Mayfair Farms in West Orange

Judge Michael A. Chagares of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit swore in Edward T. Kole, chair of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer's commercial and business litigation group, as bar president. The association also installed: Susan M. Leming as treasurer; Kerri E. Chewning as president-elect; Elizabeth J. Sher as first vice president; Ricardo Solano Jr. as second vice president; Victor A. Afanador as secretary; and William T. Reilly as immediate past president.

The “John J. Barry Memorial Scholarships” were awarded to: Victoria Siegel, Rutgers Law School in Camden; Yadilsa Diaz, Rutgers Law School in Newark; and Lorenz Gomez-Rivera, Seton Hall University School of Law. Barry, a veteran federal trial and appellate lawyer and former assistant U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey, served as president of the association from 1996 to 1998. To honor his legacy, the bar established the scholarship in 2000 and since then has awarded more than $220,000 in scholarships to law school students, the release said.

Riker Danzig's Racioppi Named Real Estate Fellow 

Nicholas Racioppi Jr.                      [Photo Credit: Carmen Natale.]

Nicholas Racioppi Jr. Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti Morristown   head of the real estate practice, has been named a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, an invitation-only fraternity of U.S. real estate lawyers elected to fellowship based on legal ability, experience, professionalism and ethics in the practice of real estate law. The fellowship was announced on April 5. Racioppi has experience in the acquisition, development, zoning and planning, leasing and sale of commercial and industrial properties. He also has experience in the formation and structuring of real estate partnerships and joint ventures. 

 

 

 

 

Hutcheon Joins Panel on Proposed Fiduciary Rule

Peter D. Hutcheon                          [Photo credit: Lynn Goodwin.]

Peter D. Hutcheon , a partner of law firm Norris McLaughlin n Bridgewater, was appointed to a four-member ad hoc subcommittee of the State Regulation of Securities Committee of the American Bar Association's Business Law Section to comment on the fiduciary duty rule recently proposed by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities, which would apply to broker-dealers and their representatives registered in New Jersey. Hutcheon serves as the liaison between the ABA committee and the bureau. In his practice,  Hutcheon primarily handles business governance, commercial transactions, securities, banking, and finance.