Justin Walder and Barry Evenchick Remember Brendan Byrne in the New Jersey Law Journal
Partners Justin Walder and Barry Evenchick who worked under Byrne as assistant prosecutors were quoted New Jersey Law Journal’s article, “Fellow Lawyers Remember Byrne for ‘Raw Courage,’ Building Character.”
Our friend and former NJ Governor Brendan Byrne, passed away on January 4, 2018, at the age of 93. Brendan Byrne, celebrated for his accomplishments as executive but equally influential as a lawyer and mentor, is being remembered as steadfastly ethical and courageous by Justin Walder and Barry Evenchick.
Justin Walder, who worked under Byrne as an assistant prosecutor in Essex, recounted one story: Walder said he was handling a death penalty case with two defendants, and that the state Supreme Court had ruled that certain discovery did not have to be made available to the defendants.
“I wasn’t comfortable with that because it was a death penalty case, so I asked Brendan what to do,” said Walder, of Hackensack’s Pashman Stein Walder Hayden.
“Give it to them,” Walder quoted Byrne as saying about the discovery materials. “Just do the right thing.”
Barry Evenchick, who also was an assistant prosecutor under Byrne, agreed about his reputation for insisting on ethical practices.
“He always gave the honest answer,” said Evenchick, also of Pashman Stein. ”That was his reputation.”
There are a phalanx of attorneys, he said, that matured under Byrne’s tenure as prosecutor. “It’s almost a cult,” Evenchick said.
To read the article in its entirety on the New Jersey Law Journal website, please click here.