Civil Court Rules and Jury Charges

Kenneth Vercammen & Associates, P.C.
2053 Woodbridge Avenue - Edison, NJ 08817

Monday, October 12, 2009

Court Rule 1:28-2. Payment to the Fund; Enforcement

Court Rule 1:28-2. Payment to the Fund; Enforcement

(a) Generally. Except as hereinafter provided, each holder of a plenary license to practice law in the State of New Jersey shall pay annually to the treasurer of the Fund a sum that shall be determined each year by the Supreme Court. An attorney who makes payment after February 1 of the billing year, or such other date as the Court may determine, but before being placed on the Ineligible List shall be subject to a late fee as set forth in Rule 1:20-1(d), which shall be shared equally with the Disciplinary Oversight Committee. The treasurer shall annually report the names of all attorneys failing to comply with the provisions of this Rule to the Supreme Court for inclusion on the list of those attorneys deemed ineligible to practice law in New Jersey by order of the Court. An attorney shall be reinstated automatically to the practice of law without further order of the Court on filing with the Fund the annual registration statement for the current year together with the annual payment, the late fee, any arrears due from prior years, and a reinstatement fee of $50 if the attorney's name is being removed from one calendar year's Ineligible List or $100 if the attorney's name is being removed from two or more calendar year's Lists.

All persons admitted pro hac vice in accordance with Rule 1:21-2, those holding limited licenses as in-house counsel under R. 1:27-2, those registered as multijurisdictional practitioners under RPC 5.5(b), and those certified as Foreign Legal Consultants under R. 1:21-9, shall also make the same annual payment described above subject to the same late fees and reinstatement from ineligible list fees. However, such persons shall not be entitled to the exemptions provided hereinafter.

For the purpose of annual assessment all members of the Bar, including those admitted pro hac vice, those holding limited licenses as in-house counsel, those registered as multijurisdictional practitioners, and those certified as Foreign Legal Consultants, shall report changes of address as they occur and thus keep their billing address current with the Fund at all times.

Any member of the Bar who receives a billing notice addressed to another member of the Bar shall either forward the notice to the intended recipient or return it to the Fund.

(b) Exceptions. The following categories of plenary license holders shall be exempt from payment to the Fund:

(1) Newly admitted attorneys, for the balance of the calendar year of their plenary admission and for the next succeeding calendar year;

(2) Attorneys who have been admitted to practice for fifty years or more;

(3) Attorneys on full-time active duty with the armed forces, VISTA, or the Peace Corps and not engaging in any way in private practice, but they shall be considered in all respects inactive New Jersey attorneys; and

(4) Attorneys who have retired completely from the practice of law, but they shall be considered in all respects inactive New Jersey attorneys.

(c) License Revocation for Repeated Non-Compliance. Any attorney who, at the time of the publication of the Fund's Ineligible Attorneys List for 2005 and thereafter, has been declared ineligible for seven or more consecutive years shall have his or her license to practice in this State administratively revoked by Order of the Supreme Court.

    On the entry of a license revocation Order pursuant to this Rule, the attorney's membership in the Bar of this State shall cease. Any subsequent application for membership shall be in accordance with the provisions of Rule 1:24. An Order of revocation shall not, however, preclude the exercise of jurisdiction by the disciplinary system in respect of any misconduct that occurred prior to Order's effective date.