(a) Function. There shall be a judicial conference, to be known as "The Judicial Conference of New Jersey," to assist the Supreme Court in the consideration of improvements in the practice and procedure in the courts and in the administration and organization of the judicial branch of government.
(b) Membership. The membership of the conference shall be as follows:
(1) The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, the presiding judges of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court, the Assignment Judges, the Presiding Judge of the Tax Court and the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
(2) Not more than 50 judges of the Superior Court, the Tax Court, and the municipal courts, to be selected by the Supreme Court.
(3) The President of the Senate, the Speaker of the General Assembly, and the majority and minority leaders and assistant leaders, and the chairmen of the Judiciary Committees of the Senate and General Assembly.
(4) The Attorney General, the Public Defender, the Administrative Director of the Courts, the clerks of the Supreme, Superior and Tax Courts, the chair of the Board of Bar Examiners, the chair of the Committee on Character, the chair of the Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, the chair of the Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, the chair of the trustees of the New Jersey Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, the chair of the Ethics Financial Committee, 3 trial court administrators to be selected by the Supreme Court, and the deans of all accredited law schools in New Jersey.
(5) Three county prosecutors, 3 surrogates, 3 county clerks, 3 probation officers, and 3 representatives of agencies providing legal services for the poor, to be selected by the Supreme Court.
(6) The officers of the State Bar Association, and the president of each county bar association, or, if unable to attend, another officer of the county bar association to be designated by the president, plus one additional representative of each county bar association or designated alternate, to be selected by the president thereof, for each 200,000 persons in the county according to the last census.
(7) Not more than 15 representatives of the general public to be selected by the Supreme Court.
(8) Other persons selected by the Supreme Court because they have professional responsibilities, interests or other qualifications which relate to particular topics to be considered.
(c) Term. All members, except those serving ex-officio, shall serve for a term of one year commencing January 1. A vacancy occurring during a term shall be filled for the unexpired portion thereof.
(d) Committees. The Supreme Court shall appoint such committees as it shall deem necessary or desirable, but the members of such committees need not be members of the conference. Each committee shall meet at such times and places as its chair shall designate.
(e) Meetings. The conference shall meet in general session at least once each year at such times and places as the Supreme Court shall designate. In the ordinary course the Supreme Court will consider for adoption only those proposed amendments to the rules that have been reported on by the appropriate committee and published for comment.
(f) Secretariat. The Administrative Office of the Courts shall serve as secretariat for the conference and for all committees.
At least once each year there shall be a conference of all justices and judges in the State, except the judges of the municipal courts, held at such times and places as the Chief Justice shall designate, and at which the Administrative Office of the Courts shall serve as secretariat. At least once each year there shall be a conference in each county of all municipal court judges in the county to be held at such times and places as the Assignment Judge of the county shall designate. The purpose of these conferences is to raise the standards of judicial performance and to make more uniform the operation and administration of the courts of the State.