As Director of Mental Health Advocacy, Patrick oversees the individual legal representation of indigent citizens facing a depravation of liberty in New Jersey's civil courts. About 16,000 civil commitment and guardianship hearings are assigned to the office staff each year.

Patrick is a lifelong advocate for individuals diagnosed with a mental illness.  In the summer of 1974, he began work as the supervising Field Representative in the Newark office of the newly created Public Advocate Division of Mental Health Advocacy.  Hired as a PhD. candidate in psychology after having just completed a clinical internship, Patrick was part of the Division's plan to create an advocacy system that combined legal and clinical professionals as an advocacy team.

In the late 1970s, Patrick was promoted to the position of statewide Supervisor of the Field Representatives and transferred to the Director's office.  He completed his law school training and was admitted to practice law in 1986. In that same year, he was made the first managing attorney of the Ocean /Monmouth Regional office of the Division.  He was appointed Deputy Director of the Division in 1989 and Director in 1998.  As Deputy Director, he served both as the Protection and Advocacy coordinator and, later, as the coordinator of the Developmentally Disabled Guardianship program.

He is a board member of the Community Support Program of New Jersey, a consumer run support and service program.  He teaches advanced mental health law at New York Law School and lectures on mental health advocacy and related legal issues.  His hobbies are woodworking and golf.

Ann is a licensed clinical social  worker who has worked within the mental health field for over 15 years in a variety of capacities. From providing direct care to mental health consumers to working on systemic advocacy issues that concern consumers and their families, she has had the opportunity to see people with mental illnesses flourish when given the right support and opportunities.

As the Deputy Director for the Division of Mental Health Advocacy, Ann examines issues that affect the lives of mental health consumers, whether they reside in the community or in hospital settings, and works on behalf of consumers to make sure that public policies reflect their needs.

Prior to coming to the Department of the Public Advocate, Ann was the Senior Director of Programs for the statewide Mental Health Association in New Jersey. Ann received her bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University, and also holds a Master’s degree in psychology from New York University, as well as an MSW in administration, policy, and planning from Rutgers.

Linda Butler is the managing attorney in the Trenton Office of the Mental Health and Guardianship Unit. She joined the Public Advocate in 1987 as a staff attorney in the Trenton Office of what was then known as the Mental Health Division of the Public Advocate.

Linda has worked in three of the four mental health field Offices and in December 2003 was promoted to managing attorney.

A Newark native, Linda graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1977 and Seton Hall Law School in 1981. She began her legal career as a law clerk for a Monmouth County Superior Court Judge. She then joined Essex-Newark Legal Services. Hired as a staff attorney in the Family Law Section, after six months she was promoted to managing attorney of that section.

She is the mother of two teenagers and her hobbies are reading, crafts and photography.

As Assistant Deputy Public Advocate for the Division of Mental Health Advocacy, Rebecca provides legal support for the Division and conducts policy research and analysis on issues affecting individuals with mental illnesses.

Rebecca is a 2006 cum laude graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she was a “law in action” academic scholar and senior notes editor of the Wisconsin International Law Journal. While at UW, she spent much of her time working for a local non-profit organization, which provided legal assistance to people with mental, physical and developmental disabilities. Rebecca spent the few remaining moments of her law school career teaching undergraduates the basics of American politics and political science technique for the UW Department of Political Science.

Immediately before joining the Division of Mental Health Advocacy, Rebecca clerked for the Honorable Steven L. Lefelt, Superior Court of New Jersey-Appellate Division.

As a Senior Field Representative, Nidia represents the Division of Mental Health Advocacy in a range of responsibilities, from handling complaints against institutions to investigating housing options for mental health consumers.  Her goal is to ensure that people within the mental health system receive the care and assistance that they need.

Nidia comes to our Department with a variety of skills and experience in mental health. She is a bilingual/bicultural family counselor and educator, who previously worked at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, where she served as a Chaplain and chaired the Multicultural Services Advisory Committee.  Nidia is an accomplished public speaker on such topics as mental health and culture, domestic violence, and spirituality and mental health.

Nidia obtained her undergraduate in Culture and Languages from The Catholic University of America.  She has a Master’s Degree in Christian Education and Counseling from Fuller Theological Seminary.  Nidia also graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1998 with a Master’s Degree in Divinity Studies, and is an Ordained Minister for the Presbyterian Church of U.S.A.

 Richard Friedman has been the Managing Attorney of the Northern Regional Office of the Mental Health Guardianship unit since 1998.

Richard joined the Public Advocate when the first department opened in 1974 when he worked as a field representative in the Division of Mental Health Advocacy.

While working at the department, Richard attended law school at night and obtained a law degree in 1980 and began working as an attorney in Mental Health Advocacy. In 1995, he was appointed as Special Counsel in the Office of the Public Defender to help establish an office for the representation of persons under Megan’s Law. Eventually, he returned to the Division of Mental Health Advocacy.

Prior to obtaining a Masters in social work from the University of Michigan in 1971, Richard worked as a program coordinator of a youth community development center. He has also been a law school adjunct professor for more than 8 years.

As assistant deputy public advocate for the Division of Mental Health Advocacy, Lorraine Gormley has handled thousands of commitment cases at the trial level and served as counsel for a dozen appellate and trial decisions in the field of mental health law. Lorraine served as a managing attorney with the division from 1982 to 2004.

Prior to joining the Division of Mental Health Advocacy, Lorraine worked for 10 years with various Legal Aid and public interest organizations, including the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky and Cape Atlantic Legal Services. She has worked as an advocate for the poor and disabled since graduating from Rutgers’s Law School in 1979.

As a legal services attorney, Lorraine handled trial and appellate cases and advocated for her clients in areas as diverse as bankruptcy, special education, landlord/tenant, family and consumer law and public benefits.

She has been a presenter/facilitator at training programs for Superior Court Judges, mental health consumers and national programs for mental health advocates.

A former Stockton Scholar, Lorraine Gormley obtained her Liberal B.A. at Stockton State College in 1976, where she was active with the Women’s Studies program and established the campus day-care center. At Rutgers Law School she served on the Board of the Rutgers/Camden Community Women’s Center.

David Harris is an assistant deputy public advocate for the Division of Mental Health and Guardianship Advocacy.

David joined the Department of the Public Advocate four years into his legal career. He had previously held positions as assistant director of national fact-finding for the Anti-Defamation League, as a criminal justice planner for the City of Newark and as a New Jersey deputy attorney general assigned to the environmental protection section.

At the Public Advocate, David has headed units dealing with education and guardianship proceedings on behalf of children and adults with disabilities, as well as representing clients in mental health commitment proceedings. He represented the department before the legislature in connection with legislation to establish the Division of Developmental Disability Advocacy.

In addition to his law degree from Rutgers Law School in Newark, David has degrees in sociology and political science from Rutgers. He completed a graduate fellowship in practical politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics in New Brunswick.

David has been co-chair of the Individual Rights Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, vice-president for advocacy of the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children and a member of the police practices committee of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. He has written opinion articles for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New Jersey Law Journal, and other publications.

William Michael Ng is a deputy public advocate and managing attorney for the Division of Mental Health Advocacy, Ocean/Monmouth Field Office. William started with the Public Defenders Office, Essex Criminal-Adult Region in 1986. From 1987 until the present, he has been a staff attorney with the Division of Mental Health Advocacy and Managing Attorney of the Essex Regional Office and, currently, Managing Attorney of the Ocean/Monmouth Regional Office.

Born and raised in New York City, William completed undergraduate studies at Brooklyn College (C.U.N.Y.), majoring in psychology and special education, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980. He co-founded the Brooklyn Special Olympics Program in 1978 and served as its Assistant Director until 1981.

William taught elementary school and high school special education in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Rutgers Law School - Newark and received a J.D. in 1984. He also clerked for the Honorable Donald S. Coburn, J.S.C. William’s hobbies include music (drums, percussion, piano) and distance running.

Theodore Novak has been a Deputy Public Advocate with the Office of Mental Health and Guardianship Advocacy since 1977. He manages its South Jersey field office.

Ted has dedicated his professional career to protecting the rights of people with mental illness and has handled thousands of civil commitment hearings, guardianship defense and patients’ rights issues. He has litigated or participated in major cases in federal and state courts, including cases in the United States Supreme Court and the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Ted is the current vice president of the Mental Health Association in Southwestern New Jersey and chairperson of its public policy committee. He has taught classes on civil commitment to judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, medical students and social workers.  Additionally, he serves as a commissioner on the Evesham Township Environmental Commission.

Prior to joining the Public Advocate, Ted worked for three years with the Passaic County Legal Aide Society handling a wide range of cases for indigent clients, including landlord-tenant, bankruptcy, foreclosure, consumer rights and family law cases.

He is a 1973 graduate of the Boston University School of Law and a 1969 cum laude graduate of Wagner College. He served six years in the New Jersey National Guard, 50^th Armored Division.

Joan Van Pelt has been the senior ttorney within New Jersey’s Alternative Commitment Unit since April 2001. The unit, which was originally in the Office of the Public Defender and was moved to the Department of the Public Advocate in July 2006, represents at trial and on appeal most of the people committed as Sexually Violent Predators in New Jersey.

Since 2001, Joan has represented more than 30 clients in their initial commitment proceedings, tried several hundred commitment reviews and argued more than 50 appeals from sexually violent predators commitments, including two cases in the New Jersey Supreme Court. She has been active in training Public Defender criminal trial attorneys on the impact of the New Jersey SVPA on plea negotiations for sex offenses, presenting seminars throughout the state to more than 200 attorneys. She was named managing attorney of the unit in January 2007.

Upon joining the Office of the Public Defender in 1983, Joan served first in the Union County Trial Region where, in addition to other cases, she represented eight defendants charged with capital murder. The three cases that went to trial resulted in life verdicts. From 1989 to 2000, Joan was the Deputy Public Defender in charge of the Appellate Section. In addition to supervising a staff of 40 attorneys, Joan was counsel on the first post-conviction proceedings under the 1982 death penalty.

Admitted to the New Jersey Bar since 1976, Joan received her law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is a 1973 graduate from Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota.