Middlesex Bar Installs 2020 Officers

Eugene Wishnic is the new President of the Middlesex County Bar Association.

Eugene Wishnic, a partner with Wishnic & Jerushalmy in New Brunswick, was installed as the Middlesex County Bar Association's 106th president on May 21, during the judiciary's virtual address to the general membership. Other 2020-21 officers and trustees (to be sworn in at a later date) include: Edward Testino, president-elect (solo, Matawan); John F. Gillick, first vice president (Rainone Coughlin & Minchello, Iselin); Megha R. Thakkar, second vice president (Hill Wallack, Princeton); Marc S. Gaffrey, treasurer (Hoagland Longo Moran Dunst & Doukas, New Brunswick); and George J. Shamy Jr., secretary (Shamy and Shamy, New Brunswick). New trustees include: Rachel Holt (Rebenack Aronow & Mascolo, New Brunswick and Somerville); Brian McFadden-DiNicola (Hoagland Longo); Lauren Miceli (Shane & White, Edison); John P. Paone III (Paone Zaleski & Murphy, Woodbridge & Red Bank); and Mark E. Zabel Jr. (Wishnic & Jerushalmy, New Brunswick). Wishnic earned his J.D. in 1992 from Rutgers Law School in Camden. In 1997 he opened a solo practice on Bayard Street in New Brunswick, and in October 2015 opened the doors of his present office on Livingston Avenue. He represents accident victims in Superior and Workers Compensation court, and defendants in municipal court and Superior Court. He has developed a fluency in Spanish. He is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Middlesex County Trial Lawyers' Association, the New Brunswick Bar Association, the American Association for Justice. He also serves as an officer of the Middlesex County Trial Lawyers Association, participates in the Rutgers University Student Legal Services/MCBA Attorney Referral Program and has served as a judge of the Middlesex County High School Mock Trial competition for the past three years. In a statement, Wishnic said he "looks forward to serving as president of the MCBA and continuing to promote the strength and growth of the Association and the members it serves."

Bhattacharya Joins Pandemic Task Force Committee

Supti Bhattacharay

Supti Bhattacharya, a partner at Hill Wallack in Princeton, has been appointed to the Access to Justice Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Pandemic Task Force. This committee is to identify the legal needs of clients lacking access to justice and develop strategies to assist them, including promoting the NJSBA pro bono platform, "Free Legal Answers," which helps members of the public get answers to their initial legal questions related to COVID-19. NJSBA immediate past president Evelyn Padin will serve as chair of the Access to Justice Committee of the statewide task force, created by the state bar to examine the issues created by the COVID-19 crisis affecting the judicial system, the legal profession, the practice of law, and access to justice for the public. The task force's special committees, in addition to access to justice, are Law Firm Opening and Operations; Resuming Jury Trials (Civil and Criminal); Practice of Law Issues; and Courthouse Operations and Logistics. The goal is to provide resources, information and relevant guidance in each area  to the New Jersey legal community and to stakeholders in government, including the governor's office, the Legislature and the Supreme Court. The task force will include retired judges and lawyers representing NJSBA sections and committees; and local, affinity, and specialty bar associations. Past state bar president Thomas H. Prol will serve as chair, and the entire executive committee of the association will participate as members of the Task Force, according to a release. Bhattacharya also has been reappointed for an eighth term to the NJSBA's Diversity Committee, which she previously chaired, and for a seventh term to the NJSBA's Bylaws Committee, which she also previously chaired, the release noted. In her practice, Bhattacharya handles family law and matrimonial law.