_{L to R:    Marilyn Horner, Sarah Horner, Michele Donato, William Horner and Douglas Heinold}

The William M. Cox Award was presented to William L. Horner of Salem by the New Jersey Institute of Government Attorneys on November 20, 2025 at NJILGA’s annual social event in Atlantic City.  Mr. Horner was nominated for the William Cox Award separately by NJILGA Past President Michele Donato and First Vice President Douglas Heinold, who each praised the recipient for his extensive and balanced knowledge of New Jersey land use and farmland preservation law.  They also highlighted his deep commitment to his various communities and his willingness to help fellow professionals.  They noted Bill’s continuation to the high-minded dedication of his late father and partner, William C. Horner.  In proud attendance at the presentation were Bill’s mother, Marilyn L. Horner and his wife, Sarah T. Horner.   In accepting the award, Bill paid tribute to the dedication and example of his father’s service as an attorney and mentor, an example he always endeavored to emulate.

The William Cox Award was established to recognize an attorney or judge in recognition of excellence and exemplary service in the field of land use law, and unselfish assistance to attorneys, local officials and other professionals.  Mr. Cox, author of New Jersey Zoning and Land Use Administration, General Counsel Emeritus to the New Jersey Planning Officials and a member, since its inception, of the Municipal Land Use Law Drafting Committee, was a renowned land use law authority who gave selflessly of himself to local planning and zoning boards, as well as fellow practitioners.  Other recipients of this award have been William M. Cox, Robert Rogers, Thomas W. Dunn, Glenn C. Kienz, Brian Burns, Eugene D. Serpentelli, Reginald Stanton, Stuart Koenig, Michele R. Donato, A. Michael Rubin and Jonathan Drill.

Bill Horner has served a Trustee of the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys from the Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem Vicinage since 2007.  He is the sole member of Horner & Horner, L.L.C., in Salem, New Jersey, the law firm he and his father William C. Horner established in 2004.  His practice primarily involves real estate transactions, land use and development, municipal law, and agricultural matters such as “Right to Farm” cases and farmland preservation. 

Mr. Horner has represented numerous local government entities over the past thirty years and currently serves as municipal solicitor for Mannington Township, and as planning board solicitor for Quinton Township, Stow Creek Township, and Woodstown Borough.  He is a 1986 graduate of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and received his law degree from the University of Denver College of Law in 1994.  He serves as Associate Legal Counsel for New Jersey Planning Officials (NJPO) and is an instructor for NJPO’s land use law and planning courses that are required for planning and zoning board members pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-23.3.  He is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and a member and past president of the Salem County Bar Association.