FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Ellen Dweck
732-937-7523
June 17, 2009
Roseland attorney and Morristown resident Richard J. Badolato has been elected president of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation (NJSBF). He previously served two years as first vice president. The NJSBF is dedicated to promoting law-related education and giving all New Jersey residents a basic understanding of the legal system.
A past president of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Badolato has been a member of that organization for 41 years. He has served on the General Council since 1977, the Civil Trial Bar Section's Executive Committee since 1982 and the Certified Trial Attorneys Section since 1988. Badolato served as chair of the NJSBA Committee on Reinstatement of Attorneys and was a member of the ad hoc Committee on Professionalism and the Membership, Malpractice and Auto Insurance Reform committees. A past chair of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee, Badolato serves as vice chairman of the Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics and received the Civil Trial Bar's James J. McLaughlin Professionalism Award in 2006. He served as an NJSBA trustee from 1993 to 1999 and is a past chair of the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism.
Badolato served as president of the Essex County Bar Association from 1977 to 1978. He is the New Jersey chair of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, a diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and served as a member of the ABA House of Delegates from 1978 to 1990.
In addition to his bar association involvement, Badolato served on the Supreme Court of New Jersey Professional Responsibility Rules and the Paralegal Education and Regulation committees. He was also a member of the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee where he served as chair from 1997 to 2000. Badolato serves as a special arbitrator in civil matters for both Union and Middlesex counties and is a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics.
He is a master of the Richard J. Hughes American Inn of Court, and a member of the International Society of Barristers and the International Society of Defense Counsel.
Badolato is a partner in the Roseland law firm of Connell Foley LLP. A certified civil trial attorney, he practices in both state and federal courts, handling malpractice, products liability, all forms of general liability, construction and automobile litigation, insurance coverage and policy interpretation, fire and theft losses, and declaratory judgment proceedings. Badolato is also a member of his firm's Litigation Partners Executive Committee.
A graduate of Fairfield University in Connecticut, Badolato received his law degree from Rutgers Law School-Newark. Badolato is the founder and past president of Fairfield University's New Jersey Area Club. He also was honored in 1997 as the recipient of Fairfield University's Alumni Service Award.
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. For more information about the Foundation's programs and publications, log onto www.njsbf.org or call 1-800-FREE-LAW.