Kim D. Ringler, Esq.
The Ringler Law Firm, Waldwick, NJ
ringlerlawfirm.com
Kim served as President of WLIB when it celebrated the organization’s 20th anniversary in 1996. Her President’s Message in the program reflected on the changes for women practicing law in the decades prior to 1996. She stated that “WLIB has been an island of caring in an adversarial sea and a coherent voice for women who are lawyers in this county.” She described the days when WLIB started. At that time, women were only about 6% of all lawyers, job interviewers asked women applicants about birth control and childcare, and often employers prided themselves on hiring a single woman for their law firms.
In a newsletter during her presidency, Kim underscored the important impact of women lawyers who used their legal training and skills of problem solving and facility with communication everywhere, from the playground to the community to the courtroom. Coming from Ohio via Washington, DC and NYC, Kim found a professional home with WLIB whose members became longstanding friends as well as colleagues. For the 20th Anniversary Celebration, past presidents and founders prepped with professional makeup and Lyn Ofrane
For more than thirty years, Kim’s law practice has centered on legal ethics, handling matters from initial admissions through disciplinary proceedings, providing expert opinions on attorney ethics issues, and advising on government ethics. She graduated from Georgetown University Law School where she was a Law Fellow. Her law firm concentrates on representing lawyers and other State licensed professionals on regulatory issues, ethics and disciplinary proceedings as well as character and fitness matters. She prosecuted attorney disciplinary matters in Manhattan for the First Department Grievance Committee as Special Trial Counsel where she was involved in high profile disciplinary prosecutions including Ian Schrager of Studio 54 fame and the infamous Roy Cohen. She served on the NYSBA Professional Ethics Committee. She was elected President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. Other past memberships include the New Jersey State Bar Association Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Unlawful Practice, the New York City Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Committee on Professional Discipline. She chaired the District IIB Fee Arbitration Committee, chaired the NJSBA Health Law Section and cochaired the Bergen County Bar Association Committee on Professionalism. The New Jersey Supreme Court recently appointed her to its Committee on Permanent Disbarment.
After years in private practice, in 2008, she joined the NJ Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Law where she prosecuted State licensed medical and other professionals for violations of standards of practice. There, she led the prosecution of a compounding pharmacy for contamination; established a nationally watched precedent for misleading advertising by dentists; and negotiated the imposition of public sanctions upon three prominent orthopedic surgeons who violated financial disclosure requirements during clinical trials. She served as the Ethics Officer for the New Jersey Division of Law in Newark providing guidance on conflicts of interest and other executive branch ethics issues. The Attorney General presented an Exceptional Service Award to her in 2014 and appointed her Deputy Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs overseeing the operations of nearly 50 licensing boards. Ms. Ringler has argued successfully numerous attorney ethics matters before the New Jersey Supreme Court representing individuals as well as the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, the Committee on Advertising, and the Committee on ExtraJudicial Activities. The New Jersey Law Journal included three cases she argued before the Supreme Court among its 2013 annual top twelve noteworthy cases. Martindale Hubbell has consistently rated her AV Preeminent. She is a frequent lecturer on professional responsibility, litigation techniques health care issues and with Green Button Counseling she has presented programs on attorney wellness and ethics. She has also published numerous articles about legal ethics.
