“The law is a noble profession,” Professor Franzese said. “As lawyers, we are the givers of hope, mindful, as Melville wrote, that ‘we cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with all of humanity, and our actions run as causes, coming back to us as effects.’ It is a privilege to be connected with the great humanity reflected in all that the New Jersey State Bar Foundation accomplishes.”

Nationally acclaimed for her teaching, Professor Franzese is the eight-time recipient of the Student Bar Association’s Professor of the Year Award. Nominated for the Robert Foster Cherry Prize for Great Teaching, she has been named “Exemplary Teacher” by the American Association of Higher Education and was ranked the top law professor in New Jersey by the New Jersey Law Journal. Professor Franzese chairs the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Teaching Methods and her essays on ethics, professionalism and the promise of the craft of law have informed judicial conferences, bar association proceedings and teacher training summits throughout the country.

“Professor Franzese is one of the most dynamic, intelligent, accomplished and caring people I have ever known. Her tireless dedication to her family, her students, her community and her profession is evident in the enthusiasm with which she approaches everything in life,” said Kathy Duva, a former student. “She is not only the best teacher I have ever encountered, but a role model and mentor who I came to count upon for inspiration and support whenever I needed it.”

In 2005, Professor Franzese was elected a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She is president of the National Justice Resource Center, a not-for-profit, philanthropic, law-related education partnership, responsible for launching and sustaining hundreds of mentoring programs for inner-city youth throughout the United States and abroad. Professor Franzese also serves on the Board of Trustees for Community Health Law Project and has served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions, the New Jersey Supreme Court Task Force on Women and the Courts, and the American Arbitration Association.

Published in 2003, Professor Franzese’s book, Property Law and the Public Interest, is heralded as one of the first to expansively explore the public interest dimensions of property law. She has also published in the areas of commercial and contracts law, legal pedagogy and attorney professionalism and is the co-author of New Jersey Forms of Jury Instruction.

Professor Franzese received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Barnard College and her law degree from Columbia University Law School. She resides in Cedar Grove, with her husband, Michael Rosella, and their two children, Michael and Nina.

An event held each year to applaud the efforts of its volunteers, the Foundation will also present Ronald S. Levitt, Esq. with its Outstanding Volunteer Service Awards to show its appreciation for the many hours he has committed to the Bar Foundation’s Mock Trial Program. The Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner Reception begins at 6 p.m. and is open to all those interested in attending. For information, please contact the Bar Foundation at (732) 937-7518 or mail a check for $75 per person made payable to the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, to the New Jersey State Bar Foundation Awards Dinner Reception, One Constitution Square, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901-1520, no later than June 7.