Relaxation of Rule 1:15-4 (State v. Clark)

The Court having determined that the limitations on municipal prosecutors imposed by State v. Clark, 162 N.J. 201
(2000), should not be extended to the partners, shareholders, associates, employers, or members of a limited liability
entity of a municipal prosecutor pending the issuance of the final report of the American Bar Association’s
Commission on the Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (the 'Ethics 2000 Commission') and its review by
the Court,
IT IS ORDERED that Rule 1:15-4 is relaxed to exempt from its terms the limitations imposed on municipal prosecutors
in State v. Clark, supra, effective January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2002, and until the further Order of the Court.
For the Court:
Deborah T. Poritz
C.J.
Dated: May 3, 2000
NOTICE TO THE BAR
Re: Relaxation of Rule 1:15-4 (State v. Clark)
In response to an inquiry, the Supreme Court published a Notice to the Bar soliciting comments on whether the
limitations on municipal prosecutors imposed by the Court in State v. Clark, 162 N.J. 201 (2000), extended to their
partners, employers, associates, shareholders, or members in a professional limited liability entity. A number of
comments were received. The Court has given all of them due consideration.
Contemporaneous with the filing of this Notice to the Bar, the Court is publishing an Order that relaxes the language of
Rule 1:15-4 for two years and until the further Order of the Court, effective January 1, 2001, the date that the decision
in Clark is to take full effect. The effect of that relaxation is to make the proscriptions of Clark personal to the
municipal prosecutor.
The Court is relaxing the Rule to permit the completion of the work of the American Bar Association’s Commission on
the Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (the 'Ethics 2000 Commission'). When the report of the
Commission is filed, the Court will establish an ad hoc committee to review all of the proposals, including those that
relate to the subject matter of State v. Clark.
Stephen W. Townsend, Esquire
Clerk of the Supreme Court
Dated: May 3, 2000