Last week the New Jersey State Bar Association held its first in-person annual meeting since 2019 in Atlantic City. Despite the fear of the return of the menace of the COVID-19 contagion, the meeting was well attended. It accomplished what the NJSBA has always done so well: present interesting and informative programs offering continuing legal education credits; allow for presentations of the state of the judiciaries by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Chief Judge of the United States District Court Freda L. Wolfson; facilitate the exchange of greetings and return to networking with colleagues of the bar and bench. Many Sections conducted their annual meetings, and receptions resumed for New Jersey’s law schools. Exhibitors had a chance once again to display their services and products.

The last two years have been challenging for the bar as it navigated the onset of COVID and its effect on members of the bar and the public. Under the stewardship of Kimberly A. Yonta, president from 2020-2021, and Dominick Carmagnola, president from 2021-2022, the NJSBA weathered the unknown and unpredictable for the practice of law with a view to assisting its members who were working mostly remotely, working with the courts, and facilitating the administration of justice. We wish the newly sworn-in president, Jeralyn L. Lawrence, an effective term as the new NJSBA leader. We are confident that Ms. Lawrence, along with the trustees, will continue to provide guidance to the members of the bar and public and to assist the judiciary in the administration of justice. We hope that the specter of COVID recedes and law can be practiced as we knew it, with an accommodation to what we learned during the pandemic. We congratulate the officers and trustees of the NJSBA for a successful meeting.