Governor Appoints Gibbons Director to Serve as Vice Chair of State Ethics Commission

News

May 12, 2017

Governor Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey has appointed Frederick W. Alworth, a Director in the Business & Commercial Litigation Department of Gibbons P.C., to the State Ethics Commission, designating Mr. Alworth as Vice Chairman of the Commission. His term lasts until August 20, 2019.

Created in 1973, the State Ethics Commission administers and enforces the New Jersey Conflicts of Interest Law and several sections of the Casino Control Act, with the authority to conduct investigations, hold hearings, and issue advisory opinions regarding alleged violations of the Conflicts Law. Administrative authority was granted via executive orders by four governors – two from each major party – since 1989. The Commission, which meets monthly, comprises four public members, with both political parties represented, and three Executive Branch employees appointed by the sitting governor. Only public members may serve as chair and vice chair.

“Fred has a long and highly regarded history of civic engagement and dedicated service to the state of New Jersey,” says Patrick C. Dunican Jr., Chairman and Managing Director of Gibbons. “Those of us at the firm are well aware of the exceptional qualifications that Governor Christie clearly recognized in appointing Fred to the Commission.”

Mr. Alworth is a past president of the Essex County Bar Association, New Jersey’s largest and oldest county bar association, and currently serves as Vice Chair for the Equity Jurisprudence Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association, through which he is routinely involved in emergent and expedited proceedings involving injunctive relief. He previously served as Condemnation Commissioner for property condemned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation due to the change in infrastructure for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Among his extensive charitable and community outreach, he served as pro bono counsel for Sandy Relief Funded Charities. He concentrates his legal practice on civil litigation, regularly appearing as lead trial counsel before state and federal courts, as well as the American Arbitration Association, in business and real estate related disputes throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, Virginia, and Florida.