Rutgers Law School

Coalition of Tenant Advocates Releases Report Exposing Significant Number of Unjustified Evictions in New Jersey

In a newly released report, Unjustified Residential Evictions in New Jersey, a coalition of tenant advocates including the Housing Justice Project of the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School, the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest at Lowenstein Sandler, Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, and the Housing Justice Program at Rutgers Law School, urges the New Jersey courts to improve their process for reviewing residential eviction complaints. The report is based on data collected and analyzed by the coalition that suggests that eviction judgments or defaults are entered against as many as 29,000 tenant families each year in cases where the court lacks jurisdiction.  

New Jersey Office of the Public Defender Sues New Jersey State Police

New Jersey Office of the Public Defender Sues New Jersey State Police

The New Jersey Office of the Public Defender today announced that it filed a class action lawsuit against the New Jersey State Police to require it to stop unlawfully disclosing the criminal records of tens of thousands of individuals in violation of their court-ordered expungements. New Jersey has been on the forefront of expanding opportunities for people to expunge their criminal records, and the courts have ordered the records of thousands of New Jerseyans expunged. Once an expungement is granted, the New Jersey State Police is charged with removing such offenses from background checks. But the State Police’s extreme delays in processing expungement orders and sealing individuals’ criminal records is frustrating the law’s goals of allowing reformed and rehabilitated New Jerseyans to be freed from the collateral consequences of their past lives.

VLJ Welcomes Summer Law Students; Prestigious Fellowships

VLJ Welcomes Summer Law Students; Prestigious Fellowships

VLJ is pleased to welcome Rutgers Law students Alexandra Bravo (Class of 2017), Danielle Panizzi (Class of 2018) and Katherine Petrie (Class of 2018) for the summer internship program.