Ed Barocas served as Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey from 2001 to 2018. In that capacity he oversaw the ACLU-NJ’s legal program. He managed hundreds of cases, which touched every corner of civil liberties including free speech, religious freedom, equal protection, privacy, reproductive freedom, and due process of law. He argued cases before the New Jersey Supreme Court and the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and submitted briefs to the United States Supreme Court.

 

Prior to working for the ACLU-NJ, for almost six years Ed served as Special Counsel for the Special Hearings Unit of the Office of Public Defender in Newark. In that role, he represented convicted sex offenders in tier classification and notification hearings and litigated class-action suits challenging the constitutionality of Megan’s Law. He managed the Unit’s largest office, covering six NJ counties. Prior to that, he served in the Division of Mental Health Advocacy, representing patients committed to state psychiatric hospitals.

 

Ed also taught courses at Rutgers Law School addressing various areas of constitutional law, including free speech, religious freedom, due process, privacy, cruel and unusual punishment, and ex post facto/double jeopardy punishments.

 

The New Jersey Law Journal selected Ed as the New Jersey Lawyer of the Year for 2018. In 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey presented him with its highest honor, the Roger Baldwin Award, for his life-time of work protecting civil liberties.

 

Ed attended Rutgers College in New Brunswick and received his Juris Doctorate in May 1992 from the National Law Center at George Washington University.

 

Ed started at the NJY Camps in 1975. He attended Long Lake, Nah-Jee-Wah, Cedar Lake, and Teen Camp. He then served as an office aide in the Senior Adult Vacation Center in Lake Como for one year before becoming a counselor, senior counselor, and ultimately Division Head for Joseph Division in Cedar Lake. His last summer on staff was in 1989. He continued attending family camping weekends and other weekends at camp throughout the years.