The New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics has declined a grievance filed by James Davis of Black Parents Workshop against Patrick Carrigg, attorney for the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education.
Davis contended that Carrigg “apparently called the New Jersey Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee, posing as ‘Patrick Harris’ and attempted to put my legal license in jeopardy by making a baseless complaint that I was practicing law without a license in New Jersey. … It is my opinion that Mr. Carrigg’s decision to make a complaint against me was personal in nature and completely without merit or reasonable foundation.”
Davis also accused Carrigg of racial bias in filing the complaint; Carrigg rejected the allegation in an email to Village Green on December 19, 2025, and shared a letter showing that the office said that the error was theirs for mistranscribing Carrigg’s last name.
Carrigg also wrote, “I wholeheartedly reject the allegation that I have ever displayed any bias or mistreatment of any families or students, based on race or otherwise, in this district or elsewhere. My professional role is to advise and represent public school districts in compliance with state and federal law, and I take great pride in that responsibility. I remain firmly committed to principles of fairness, equity, and respect for all members of the school community, and have displayed those principles throughout my career.”
In a letter dated December 18, 2025 and addressed to Davis, Johanna Barba Jones of the Office of Attorney Ethics of the NJ Supreme Court, wrote that “grievances stating facts that do not constitute unethical conduct of a New Jersey attorney shall be declined and not docketed.”
“After reviewing your grievance against Patrick F. Carrigg, Esq., the Office of Attorney Ethics has concluded that your grievance failed to provide a basis for the allegations set forth in your grievance,” Jones continued. “Specifically, the Counsel for the UPLC disclosed that there was a clerical error in the referral which incorrectly listed Harris rather than Carrigg.” Therefore, she wrote, the Office was declining to docket the grievance.
The letter also copied Carrigg, who shared it with Village Green.
Read more about Davis’s grievance here:
Black Parents Workshop President Files Ethics Grievance Against SOMSD Counsel
See the Office of Attorney Ethics letter here:
See Davis’s grievance here:
