NJSBF.org - Foundation to Honor Noted Litigator and Retired Ethics Director

Foundation to Honor Noted Litigator and Retired Ethics Director

STATE BAR FOUNDATION TO HONOR NOTED LITIGATOR AND RETIRED ETHICS DIRECTOR

The New Jersey State Bar Foundation’s (NJSBF) highest award—the prestigious Medal of Honor—will be conferred on William S. Greenberg, Esq., a noted litigator and partner at McCarter & English, LLP; and to David E. Johnson, Jr., retired director of the Office of Attorney Ethics of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, for their longstanding commitment to New Jersey’s legal legacy. The award, given each year to candidates who have made outstanding contributions to improving the justice system, will be presented at the Foundation’s Annual Medal of Honor Awards Reception on Thursday, June 11, at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick.

Supporter of the Troops

“I am most honored to be recognized by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation,” said Mr. Greenberg. “but the real honor goes to my colleagues at McCarter & English who have helped me make our representation of wounded and injured soldiers so effective….[That program] has been among the most personally and professionally rewarding experiences of my career at the bar.”

Although the majority of his 40-year distinguished career has involved corporate litigation, for the past several years Mr. Greenberg, a retired brigadier general, has devoted much of his energy to helping New Jersey’s military reservists gain the services and benefits to which they are entitled. Realizing that there weren’t sufficient numbers of military lawyers to deal with the everyday problems of deployed soldiers and their families at home, he established and still chairs the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Military Legal Assistance Program, formed through the association’s Military Law and Veterans’ Affairs Committee in conjunction with McCarter & English. The program, staffed by pro bono volunteer attorneys, provides needed assistance to members of Reserve Components called to active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq after September 11, 2001.

“We focus on military disability issues on behalf of wounded and injured war veterans,” said Mr. Greenberg, “whose legal process for benefits begins—and often ends—at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.” His efforts in encouraging lawyers to donate their time on behalf of the organization have helped some 4,000 New Jersey members of the armed forces navigate the justice system as they worked through disability claims, child custody issues, support payment disputes and employment problems. Under his leadership, the program has received both local and national recognition and earned him the State Bar Association’s Presidential Achievement Award.

Recently appointed by Gov. Jon Corzine to be a member of the New Jersey World War II Memorial Commission, Mr. Greenberg was personally responsible for raising the largest amount of private donations, including contributions from his colleagues at McCarter & English and its clients. He has also served since 2001 as Special Assistant to The Adjutant General of New Jersey for Homeland Security and Military Legal Assistance. In addition to serving as special litigation counsel to The Adjutants General Association of the United States, he served in that capacity pro bono for the National Guard Association of the United States.

“The New Jersey State Bar Foundation is proud to bestow its highest honor on Mr. Greenberg for his distinguished career and outstanding pro bono efforts on behalf of New Jersey’s members of the military,” said NJSBF President Mary Ellen Tully. “With his more than 100 published opinions and other writings, teaching at Seton Hall and service to the state, he personifies the qualities a Medal of Honor recipient should possess.”

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Rutgers School of Law, he joined McCarter & English in 1968 as an associate following a judicial clerkship, eventually returning as a partner in 1993. The Supreme Court of New Jersey named him a Certified Civil Trial Attorney in 1983 and later appointed him to the Mercer County Ethics Committee. Among his noteworthy affiliations, Mr. Greenberg served as president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America-New Jersey and was a trustee of both the State Bar Association and State Bar Foundation. A former Commissioner of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, he also served as Assistant Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey and as Commissioner of the New Jersey State Scholarship Committee.

Since 1989 he has been the author of The Trial Handbook for New Jersey Lawyers as well its 2005 Annual Supplement. The following year he also authored the Civil Trial Handbook, Volume 47 of the New Jersey Practice Series and has written regularly for legal periodicals and other publications. An academic as well, Mr. Greenberg serves as the first adjunct professor of military law at the Seton Hall University School of Law, where he teaches a broad survey of military legal matters including military justice and military and veterans’ benefits. He is recognized as a New Jersey Super Lawyer in the 2005-2009 editions.

Ethics Above All

“The Medal of Honor is a high tribute for which I am especially grateful since it comes from my peers. I share this recognition with members of the Office of Attorney Ethics who work to assure the fair and evenhanded pursuit of the highest professional standards at the bar."

Admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1971, Mr. Johnson began his legal career with a five-year stint in private law practice with Wesley L. Lance in Clinton, during which time he served as attorney for the Township of Lebanon, Hunterdon County. In 1976 he joined the Judiciary’s Central Ethics Unit, subsequently renamed the Division of Ethics and Professional Services, and was appointed its chief four years later. Mr. Johnson has also served as secretary or counsel to the Supreme Court of New Jersey’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, its Attorney Disciplinary Structure Committee and its Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee.

In October 1983 Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz appointed Mr. Johnson director of the Office of Attorney Ethics of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, a position held until his retirement in February 2009. As the Chief Disciplinary Counsel, he oversaw an OAE staff of 64. During 1991 to 1993 he also served as a member of the Supreme Court’s New Jersey Ethics Commission. As a result of the work of that commission, the Court implemented numerous changes in the attorney disciplinary system, including public disciplinary hearings, the abolition of private reprimands, the adoption of time goals, the use of full-time professional investigators, and the implementation of diversion programs for minor misconduct.

In one capacity or another, he has served the Supreme Court of New Jersey under five Chief Justices: the Honorables Richard J. Hughes, Robert N. Wilentz, Deborah T. Poritz, James R. Zazzali and Stuart Rabner.

During the 25 years Mr. Johnson served as director, the ethics system evolved to one of the most respected in the nation. He was responsible for the management of the OAE, which conducts complex disciplinary investigations and prosecutions, as well as those requiring emergent temporary suspensions. He was also responsible for the work of 18 district ethics and 17 fee arbitration committees and oversaw the Supreme Court’s Random Audit Compliance Program, the Trust Overdraft Notification Program and the collection and analysis of the Annual Attorney Registration Program.

“The New Jersey State Bar Foundation is proud to bestow its highest honor on Mr. Johnson,” said New Jersey State Bar Foundation president Mary Ellen Tully. “His longtime service to the Supreme Court and commitment to establishing and maintaining the highest standard of ethics has ennobled our profession and served the citizens of this state most honorably. He epitomizes the qualities a Medal of Honor recipient should have.”

During 1990-1991 Mr. Johnson was president of the National Organization of Bar Counsel, an international association of disciplinary counsel. He also served as its liaison to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Professional Discipline and its Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.

Among his publications are Trust and Business Accounting for Attorneys and articles for the Rutgers Law Review and the New Jersey Law Journal. He was associate editor of the Law Review at the University of Memphis School of Law and served as faculty on numerous American Bar Association (ABA) National Conferences on Professional Responsibility, as well as the ABA’s National Forums on Client Protection. Additionally, he was a member of the ABA’s evaluation team that reviewed the Kentucky attorney discipline system in 1990 and recommended changes.

Raised in Hackettstown, Mr. Johnson resides in Lawrenceville. He has a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, a J.D. from Memphis State University School of Law and an M.P.A. from Rider College School of Public Administration.

The Foundation’s Annual Medal of Honor Awards Reception begins at 6 p.m. and is open to everyone. For information, please contact Florence Nathan at the Bar Foundation at 732-937-7518 or mail a check for $75 per person made payable to the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, to the New Jersey State Bar Foundation Awards Reception, One Constitution Square, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1520, no later than June 4.

Founded in 1958, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation is the educational and philanthropic arm of the New Jersey State Bar Association. The Bar Foundation’s mission is to promote public understanding of the law through a free, comprehensive public education program. Among its activities, the Foundation conducts seminars and conflict resolution training, publishes materials, operates a videotape loan library and speakers bureau, and coordinates elementary, middle and high school mock trial competitions.

—NJSBF—