A local attorney ethics panel has recommended that a Morristown matrimonial litigator be admonished for disparaging remarks he made about his former law partner, who now is the Morris County prosecutor.

The District XA Ethics Committee (DEC) said Willliam Laufer of Laufer, Dalena, Cadicina, Jensen & Bradley violated two of the Rules of Professional Conduct when he made the remarks about Morris County Prosecutor Fredric Knapp to an adversary, in the courtroom during a break in a domestic violence hearing.