Rule 1:28B-1. Board of Trustees; Purpose; Administration; Annual Assessment

(a) Appointments A Board of Trustees shall oversee the financial operation and administration of the New Jersey Lawyers Assistance Program (LAP) by the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA). The Supreme Court shall appoint eight of the nine members of the Board. At least five of the Trustees appointed by the Supreme Court shall be members of the bar of this State. The initial Trustees shall be appointed to terms of one, two, or three years. At the expiration of such terms, all subsequent appointments and reappointments shall be for a term of three years. No Trustee who has served four full three-year terms shall be eligible for immediate reappointment. A vacancy occurring during a term shall be filled for the unexpired portion thereof. The Court shall annually designate members of the Board of Trustees to serve as Chair and Vice-Chair.

In addition to the Trustees appointed by the Supreme Court, the President of the New Jersey State Bar Association or a designee shall serve as an ex officio member of the Board. The Administrative Director of the Courts, or a designee, shall serve, ex officio, as Treasurer of the LAP.

(b) Purpose; Administration The purpose of the New Jersey Lawyers Assistance Program is to provide assistance to attorneys, full-time members of the State Judiciary, law students, and law school graduates with alcohol, drug, gambling, emotional, behavioral, or other personal problems that affect well-being and professional performance. NJSBA shall operate LAP through a Director and appropriate staff pursuant to a contract with the Judiciary that is subject to the review and approval of the Supreme Court.

(c) Meetings The Board of Trustees shall conduct meetings at the call of the Chair. Except as may be otherwise provided by this Rule or by regulations promulgated by the Trustees, five of the nine Trustees shall constitute a quorum and may transact all business of the Board. In the Chair's absence or inability to serve, the Vice-Chair shall preside.

(d) Compensation The Trustees shall serve without compensation.

(e) Annual Assessment Every attorney admitted to practice law in the State of New Jersey, including those holding a plenary license, those admitted pro hac vice in accordance with Rule 1:21-2, those holding a limited license as in-house counsel under Rule 1:27-2, those registered as multijurisdictional practitioners under RPC 5.5(b), those certified as Foreign Legal Consultants under Rule 1:21-9, and those permitted to practice under Rule 1:21-3(c), shall be assessed and shall pay annually to the Lawyers Assistance Program a fee in a sum that shall be determined each year by the Supreme Court. All fees so paid shall be used for the administration of the Lawyers Assistance Program. This assessment shall be collected administratively in the same manner as and subject to the same exemptions as provided under Rule 1:28-2, except that no such fee shall be assessed to attorneys during the first calendar year of their admission. The fee shall be assessed to all attorneys in their second through forty-ninth calendar year of admission. The names of any and all attorneys failing to comply with the provisions of this rule shall be reported to the Supreme Court for inclusion on its Ineligible to Practice Law List. Any attorney who fails to pay the annual assessment for seven consecutive years shall be subject to the license revocation procedures contained in Rule 1:28-2(c).