Ethics Advisers & Advocates
for New Jersey Professionals
KIM D. RINGLER, Principal, has thirty years of ethics advising and handling disciplinary proceedings. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and Georgetown University Law School, and received a certification from Seton Hall Law School in Health Care Compliance. She re-established her private practice, the Ringler Law Firm, in Waldwick, New Jersey after leaving public service in June of 2015. The firm concentrates on advising and representing professionals and State licensees on disciplinary matters and regulatory issues. Kim joined the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Law in 2008, after many years in private practice, as a Deputy Attorney General prosecuting State licensed medical and other professionals for violations of standards of practice. Ringler brought in over one million dollars in fines and recovered costs in six years. She led the prosecution of a compounding pharmacy for contamination; established a nationally watched precedent for misleading advertising by dentists; and negotiated the imposition of public sanctions upon three prominent orthopedic surgeons who violated financial disclosure requirements during clinical trials.
She also served as the Ethics Liaison Officer for the Division of Law providing guidance on conflicts of interest and other executive branch ethics issues to all personnel in Newark. The Attorney General presented an Exceptional Service Award to her in 2014. That year, she was appointed Deputy Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs overseeing the operations of 46 licensing boards, as well as the DCA’s investigatory arm, the Enforcement Bureau; the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program; and the Drug Control Unit. She coordinated the Attorney General’s Pain Management Council tasked with developing best practices in the areas of education, treatment and diversion of prescription opioid medications.
Ringler has argued successfully before the New Jersey Supreme Court representing individuals on disciplinary matters, the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics, the Committee on Advertising and the Committee on Extra-Judicial Activities. The New Jersey Law Journal included three cases she argued before the Supreme Court among its 2013 annual top twelve noteworthy cases.
Prior to joining the State, her law practice included representing attorneys at all stages of the disciplinary and admission processes, and counseling lawyers, law firms and other regulated professionals on ethics, disciplinary and licensure matters. A former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, NY, she served as Special Trial Counsel to the Disciplinary Committee for Manhattan and the Bronx. She also worked as an associate at a mid-town litigation firm. Memberships included the New Jersey State Bar Association Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Unlawful Practice, its Health and Hospital Law Section, the New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics, the New York City Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Committee on Professional Discipline and the New Jersey Supreme Court District IIB Ethics Committee. She chaired the District IIB Fee Arbitration Committee. She served as president of Women Lawyers in Bergen, president of the international Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, and a trustee of the Bergen County Bar Foundation. Ringler was a two-term councilwoman and a deputy mayor in Ridgewood, NJ where she also served on the municipal Planning Board.
Honors include a Collaboration Award from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for her participation in a joint federal/state investigation. Martindale Hubbell has consistently rated her AV Preeminent. She is a frequent lecturer on professional responsibility, litigation techniques and health care issues.
SUSAN C. BERGER, Of Counsel, is a graduate of Queens College and Capital University Law School where she was an Associate Editor of the Law Review. She served as a Deputy Attorney General representing and counseling the Professional and Occupational Boards regarding licensing, disciplinary and regulatory matters. She coordinated undercover investigations for unlicensed practice with the office of county prosecutors and regularly appeared in Superior Court, the Office of Administrative Law and the Appellate Division. She handled compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, Open Public Records Act, HIPPA and defended subpoena actions. She drafted numerous regulations which became binding rules. She received an Award of Excellence from the State of New Jersey.
Recently, Ms. Berger received recognition for her work in funeral and burial law by Northeast Legal Services. The organization presented her with a Champion of Justice Award in November of 2021.
Her background includes more than twenty years counseling New Jersey licensing boards and involvement with the Boards’ regulations.
In addition, Susan served on a task force that represented and counseled the Boards of Superintendents and Boards of Elections from five counties. She had led many election contests matters.
Susan was the municipal prosecutor for the City of Passaic where she prosecuted cases and also the counsel to the Alcohol and Beverage Commission. Early in her career she was an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York prosecuting building, fire and transpiration violations daily and filing civil actions on behalf of the City. She clerked for the Supreme Court of New York in both civil and criminal parts.
She served on the Bergen County Ethics Committee , chaired the Bergen County Bar Association Administrative Law Committee and taught Legal Standards for Professional Boards.
The Ringler Law Firm 