What is the worst type of (or highest level of) discipline? If you thought "disbarment" you would be wrong. The correct answer is permanent disbarment, because in most jurisdictions disbarred lawyers can be reinstated after a period of time.
And last week, New Jersey decided to join that majority of jurisdictions. As reported in the ABA Journal, according to a recent order of the state's supreme court "New Jersey lawyers who are disbarred will in most cases be allowed to apply for reinstatement after five years." New Jersey now joins 41 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing disbarred attorneys to seek readmission.
Having said that, the NJ supreme court retained the authority to impose permanent disbarment in future egregious cases and to block successive applications for reinstatement for particular attorneys on a case by case basis.
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