Family court Judge Melanie Appleby has stipulated to conflicts of interest in seeking advice on her own child support problems from a lawyer with cases before her and in continuing to hear his cases for months afterward.
Appleby has not conceded, however, to knowing that the prominent matrimonial attorney she consulted—Frank Louis of Louis & Judge in Toms River—hid behind the name and letterhead of another lawyer in an attempt to conceal his involvement and preserve his ability to appear before her, as charged in an ethics complaint.
