Tuesday, Oct 12, 2010
The Rider University Law and Justice Program’s 15th annual Distinguished Contribution Award will be presented to former Justice John E. Wallace Jr. of the New Jersey Supreme Court for his outstanding achievements in law and justice.
by Sean Ramsden
The Rider University Law and Justice Program’s 15th annual Distinguished Contribution Award will be presented to former Justice John E. Wallace Jr. of the New Jersey Supreme Court for his outstanding achievements in law and justice. The award will be presented after an address by Wallace at a luncheon on Thursday, October 28, at 11:30 a.m. in the Fireside Lounge of the Bart Luedeke Center on the Lawrenceville campus. Wallace will discuss “U.S. Supreme Court Justices from the State of New Jersey.”
Dr. James Ottavio Castagnera, associate provost and associate counsel for Academic Affairs at Rider, announced the award. “We are honored to welcome Justice Wallace to Rider as a guest of the Law and Justice Program,” said Castagnera, who is also the Program’s acting director. “New Jersey has a proud history of sending respected jurists to the United States Supreme Court over nearly 200 years, and Justice Wallace’s overview is certain to be illuminatng.”
A native of Pitman, N.J., Wallace took the oath of office of the Supreme Court of New Jersey on May 20, 2003, and served until May 2010. He had previously served on the Superior Court of New Jersey since his 1984 appointment. During that time, Wallace also served as the municipal judge for Washington Township in Gloucester County. In 1992, he was appointed to the Superior Court’s Appellate Division.
Wallace was a founding partner in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania-based law firm of Atkinson, Myers, Archie and Wallace, established in 1976. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1967 after receiving a B.A. from the University of Delaware in 1964. Wallace also served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970, attaining the rank of captain.
A member of the University of Delaware Board of Trustees, Wallace has also been honored with the Orient of New Jersey Dedicated Service Award from the Valley of Camden, as well as the Washington Township Board of Education Appreciation Award, in 2000. He was also recognized by the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey in 2001, and the Van J. Clinton award from the Garden State Bar Association in 2002.
The public is invited and should RSVP to Sandy Ober at 609-896-5000, ext. 7055, or [email protected].