NEW YORK (October 13, 2009) – The New Jersey Law Journal has released its fifth survey of New Jersey lawyers’ ratings of the quality of the 350 Superior Court judges on the state’s trial bench. Essex County’s Civil Presiding Judge Eugene Cody topped this year’s overall competence rankings. It was the first time since the Law Journal began publishing judicial surveys in 1989 that a civil presiding judge led the list. The survey results, designed to assess the comparative strengths and weaknesses of judges, their demeanor and their potential biases, are available in a special magazine supplement in this week’s issue of the New Jersey Law Journal and are also available on the Web at www.njlj.com.

The responding lawyers ranked trial judges statewide significantly above average in overall competence, with an 8.05 average score (out of a possible 10), up from 7.85 in the Law Journal poll four years ago.

The supplement provides overall rankings of each judge, listed by jurisdiction, as well as thumbnail biographies and an overview of survey results across the state. The Law Journal’s publication’s most recent prior survey was published in January 2005.

The Law Journal conducts the survey without the cooperation or endorsement of the judiciary. The state court system performs its own evaluation of each judge prior to his or her legislative vote on tenure, following seven years of service on the bench. But, while the results of the judiciary’s evaluation are shared with the Senate, they are not made public.

“The survey is meant to provide a forum for pooling the practicing bar’s collective knowledge about judges’ performance. Lawyers share such knowledge informally all the time, but not in any quantifiable way that can be readily referenced and distributed. This survey supplies that medium,” said Ronald Fleury, editor in chief of the New Jersey Law Journal.

For additional information, contact Fleury at (973) 854-2950 or rfleury@alm.com.

Published since 1878, the New Jersey Law Journal is an indispensable legal authority for a state with the fifth largest attorney population in the country. The weekly is the official source for all state and federal court notices and provides digests of all relevant court decisions, as well as award-winning reporting. Each issue features “In Practice” articles by contributing experts on legal developments, as well as editorials by editorial board bar leaders.

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