The candidates in races for contested State Bar Association posts are garnering endorsements from key sections, committees and outside bar groups, and the two front-runners for the job of second vice president have mustered strong contingents.

Nancy Erika Smith, of Montclair, was backed in a March 27 resolution by the 2,700-member Essex County Bar Association, and on Tuesday, Thomas Prol, of Franklin, won the approval of the 2,200-member State Bar Young Lawyers’ Division.