Part 1 · Public Access to Court Records and Administrative Records

Rule 1:38-5. Administrative Records Excluded from Public Access

Amended October 18, 2011 (current)

(a) Records required to be kept confidential by statute, rule, or prior case law consistent with this rule, unless otherwise ordered by a court;

(b) Notes, memoranda, or other working papers maintained in any form by or for the use of a justice, judge or judiciary staff member in the course of his or her official duties, including administrative duties;

(c) Minutes, reports, memoranda, notes, and correspondence in any form pertaining to the development and implementation of judiciary rules and policies, including draft versions of rules, policies and procedures, self-critical analysis reports, and peer review reports;

(d) Reports, memoranda, and other records pertaining to policies and procedures for court security and data security;

(e) Personnel records, except for an employees name, title, position, salary, compensation, dates of service, and date and type of separation;

(f) Records concerning volunteers, except for a volunteers name, title, if any, program to which assigned, and dates of service;

(g) Juror source lists prepared pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2B:20-2, jury questionnaires completed pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2B:20-3, and preliminary lists prepared pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2B:20-4 of persons to be summoned for possible service as grant or petit jurors, which shall remain confidential, except as provided in Rule 1:8-5, unless otherwise ordered by the Assignment Judge;

(h) Reports required to be prepared by trial court judges on a weekly, monthly, or other basis and submitted to the Administrative Director of the Courts pursuant to R. 1:32-1;

(i) Records and information obtained and maintained by the Judicial Performance Committee pursuant to R. 1:35A, except as otherwise provided in that rule;

(j) Records of the Ethics Telephone Research Service to the extent provided under R. 1:19-9;

(k) Records of proceedings concerning advisory opinions of the Committee on Attorney Advertising to the extent provided under R. 1:19A-5;

(l) Records relating to attorney discipline to the extent provided under R. 1:20-9;

(m) Records of District Fee Arbitration Committees to the extent provided under R. 1:20A-5;

(n) Records of the Attorney Disciplinary Oversight Committee to the extent provided under R. 1:20B-4;

(o) Records of the Lawyers Fund for Client Protection to the extent provided under R. 1:28-9;

(p) Records of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct to the extent provided under R. 2:15-20;

(q) Records of the Office of the Ombudsman, except for court user satisfaction survey reports, statewide daily contact reports, and information related to community outreach efforts.