LIGHTHOUSE AWARD TO WILLIAM HOLZAPFEL

NJILGA Trustee William R. Holzapfel has been selected by the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law as the 2019 recipient of the Lighthouse Award. This recognition is bestowed periodically to individuals who have exhibited the utmost professionalism and integrity throughout their legal career and who serve as an inspiration to their colleagues in the legal profession. Based on Holzapfel’s extensive and impressive work in government and in other professional and community activities, the Commission decided to honor his outstanding service with this exclusive award. The Lighthouse Award will be presented at the Commission’s Annual Professionalism Luncheon on October 23, 2019 at Pines Manor in Edison.

William R. Holzapfel was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1959 and has been the City Attorney of Elizabeth, New Jersey, since 1993. Mr. Holzapfel received his B.A. from Union College and his L.L.B., cum laude, from Albany Law School where he was an Associate Editor of the Albany Law Review. Mr. Holzapfel is a past President of the Union County Bar Association. He was a member and Chair of the District XII Ethics Committee and Trustee and Chair of the Clients Security Fund, now known as the Lawyers Fund for Client Protection. He is a former Chair of the Public Utility Law and Local Government Law Sections of the New Jersey State Bar Association and former Chair of the NJSBA Government and Public Sector Lawyers Committee. Mr. Holzapfel is a recipient of the Diplomate designation in Municipal Law from the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys and has received the Distinguished Service Award from the New Jersey Utilities Association for his work on the New Jersey Digest of Public Utility Decisions. In 2000, he received the Professional Lawyer of the Year Award for Union County from the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law on the recommendation of the Union County Bar Association and he has also been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Holzapfel is a retired Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, having served as an Infantry Officer with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division in the Republic of South Korea in 1954 and 1955. In 2016, he received the James R. Lacey, Esq. Award for Distinguished Service presented by the Public Utility Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association in Appreciation and Recognition of Distinguished Service to the New Jersey Public Utilities Industry. He has also received awards from the Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce, Groundwork Elizabeth, Patriots’ Path Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless. He is presently an Associate Counsel of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, a Trustee of the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys, a Member of the Advisory Board of the Kean University Liberty Hall Center for History and a Director of the Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce.

LIGHTHOUSE AWARD RECIPIENT BILL HOLZAPFEL
IS CONGRATULATED BY NJILGA SENIOR TRUSTEE
AND NJLM GENERAL COUNSEL, WILLIAM KEARNS
AND NJILGA PRESIDENT, JOHN GILLESPIE AT
PROFESSIONALISM LUNCHEON ON OCTOBER 23, 2019.