The Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey (ACDL-NJ) held its annual inauguration dinner at the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange, on May 8, 2008. 

     President John C. Whipple, of Arsenault, Whipple, Farmer, Fassett and Azzarello (Chatham, NJ), was sworn in by the Honorable Tonianne J. Bongiovanni, U.S.M.J. (a former ACDL-NJ Board of Trustees member). Mr. Whipple is a 1982 graduate of Seton Hall Law School.  He was a Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor from 1982 to 1985, when he joined the Federal Public Defender’s Office.  In 1988, he become a Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer and went into private practice,.  He has since been rated one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers of New Jersey.  John Whipple served on the New Jersey Supreme Court District X Ethics committee from 1996 to 2000, and has served as a Member of the Board of Trustees for several years before being elected as an officer.  He, along with past-president Blair Zwillman (Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer), is presently a co-chair of the Lawyers Assistance Program with the ACDL-NJ.

     Judge Bongiovanni also swore in the remaining officers: President-elect Donald DiGioia of Weissman, Healy and DiGioia (Mountainside, N.J.), Vice Presidents William Buckman (Moorestown, N.J.), Leslie Stolbof Sinemus (South Orange, N.J.), and Timothy Donohue, of Arleo and Donohue, (West Orange, N.J.), and Secretary/Treasurer Darren Gelber of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer (Woodbridge, N.J.), as well as the remaining thirty members of the Board of Trustees.

     The keynote speaker was the Honorable James R. Zazzali, retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.  His remarks emphasized the value of the ACDL-NJ and its efforts on behalf of the attorneys, clients, courts, and legal community of New Jersey.

     The Honorable Lawrence A. Whipple Memorial Award was given this year to the Honorable Esther Salas, U.S.M.J..  Upon graduating from Rutgers School of Law in Newark in 1994, Judge Salas clerked for the Honorable Eugene Codey, J.S.C. in Essex County.  She was in private practice from 1995 to 1997, when she was hired by the Federal Public Defender for the District of New Jersey.  She served as President of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, and in July, 2002, was appointed to serve on the Governor’s Hispanic Advisory Council for Policy Development. Additionally, she was a member of the Board of Trustees of the ACDL-NJ.  In November, 2006, Esther Salas was sworn in as the first Hispanic to serve as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey. 

     The Lawrence A. Whipple Memorial Award, given each year by the ACDL-NJ to a member of the bar who exemplifies professionalism, dedication to and passion for the law, honors the memory of one of New Jersey’s most popular judges - a  jurist lauded over the years for his intellect, wit, fairness and compassion. Judge Whipple served as Hudson County Prosecutor from 1958 to 1963, when he was sworn in as a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey.  He served in that capacity until 1967, when he was appointed by President Johnson to the United States District Court of New Jersey.  Past recipients of the Whipple Award include the Hon. John J. Gibbons, U.S.C.J. (ret.), the Hon. Tonianne J. Bongiovanni, U.S.M.J., and the first recipient in 1995, the Honorable John J. Hughes, U.S.M.J..  Judge Whipple was the father of now- President John Whipple.

     The ACDL-NJ is a 400-plus  member organization chartered for the purpose of representing the interests of the criminal defense bar and their clients.  There is a Lawyers’ Assistance Program, which provides free legal representation to attorney-members acting in defense of their clients.  The Amicus Curiae Committee participates in select cases with policy or precedential importance in the N.J. Supreme Court and occasionally the courts below.  Recent cases include, inter alia,  State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008), the Alcotest challenge, State v. Reid, A-105-06 (April 21, 2008), involving expectations of privacy over the internet, and State v. Tomahl Cook, 179 N.J. 533 (2004), resulting in the Court’s requirement that interrogations leading up to confessions be electronically recorded.  The Legislative Committee monitors pending legislation and provides both the New Jersey Assembly and Senate with input on the constitutionality or advisability of pending legislation.  The Education Committee hosts ‘Super Saturday’ - a day-long seminar in the fall, featuring nationally known and local speakers, as well as smaller, local seminars throughout the year.  The ACDL-NJ website includes links to a list serve, brief bank, information about jails and their visiting hours and mentor attorneys, and is located at www.acdlnj.org.