Roseland, NJ, June 18, 2008 – Connell Foley LLP, a Roseland, New Jersey-based law firm, is pleased to announce that partner Richard J. Badolato is beginning his second year as first vice president of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation.  Mr. Badolato was elected to the post last year.  The New Jersey State Bar Foundation is dedicated to promoting law-related education and giving all New Jersey residents a basic understanding of the legal system.

 A past president of the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA), Mr. Badolato has been a member of the organization for 40 years.  He has served on the General Council since 1977, the Civil Trial Bar Section’s Executive Committee since 1982 and the Certified Trial Attorneys Section since 1988.  Mr. Badolato served as chair of the NJSBA Committee on Reinstatement of Attorneys and was a member of the ad hoc Committee on Professionalism and the Membership, Malpractice and Auto Insurance Reform committees.  Currently the chair of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committee, Mr. Badolato serves as vice chairman of the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics and received the Civil Trial Bar’s James J. McLaughlin Professionalism Award in 2006.  He served as an NJSBA trustee from 1993 to 1999 and is a past chair of the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism.

 Mr. Badolato is a member of Connell Foley’s Insurance Law and Product Liability and Tort Law practice groups.  He is a certified civil trial attorney, practicing in both state and federal courts, handling malpractice, products liability, all forms of general liability, construction and automobile litigation, insurance coverage and policy interpretation, fire and theft losses, and declaratory judgment proceedings.  He is also a member of Connell Foley’s Litigation Partners Executive Committee.

 A graduate of Fairfield University in Connecticut, Mr. Badolato received his law degree from Rutgers Law School, Newark.