New Jersey investigating lawyers in state pension fund

    2007 reform was supposed to bar part-time attorneys from system

    New Jersey’s pension division wants to know how some attorneys with private practices are in the state pension system.

    Despite a 2007 reform law, eleven attorneys with private practices have managed to get public pension credits. New Jersey Treasury spokesman Andrew Pratt says the reforms were designed to prevent lawyers with multiple part time government jobs from qualifying for the state pension system.

    “The question is did everybody get the word that this practice is not acceptable anymore and did they adjust everything to make sure that’s clear.”

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    Pratt says more than 40 towns or government agencies were contacted as part of the inquiry by state auditors. He says if rules were blatantly violated the findings will be submitted to the attorney general’s office for possible criminal prosecution.

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