[1] He attended Dartmouth College, where he was president of Phi Tau fraternity and a member of the rowing team, graduating in 1980.
[2][3] He currently serves as Chair of the New Jersey Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, and as a member of the American Civil Liberties Union National Executive Committee, and was elected General Counsel of the national ACLU beginning January 2018.
The first New Jersey public advocate—and the first of any state—was Stanley Van Ness, whose office filed an Amicus Brief in the case resulting in a decision which was to become known as the Mt.
Laurel Doctrine, which prevents municipalities from using zoning as a means of excluding low-income residents.
He returned to Rutgers after his term as public advocate and resumed an active teaching and administrative role.