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Pro Bono Report 2021

Sculpture “Equal Before the Law” by ©Eldon Garnet, Artist, 2012. Photo by Mark Stegel.

Our Mission

From its founding, Lowenstein Sandler has been committed to advancing the public interest and serving communities in need. The Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest embodies this commitment, directing the firm’s strong pro bono program and other forms of civic and philanthropic engagement. Through these efforts, the center addresses significant social problems and offers meaningful assistance to low-income and other marginalized people, along with the organizations that advocate for and support them. This work engages the full range of the firm’s talents and reflects the core values that imbue all of the firm’s efforts: to perform work of the highest quality in a manner that maximizes results for our clients and causes.

Standing Back Up

Cracks In The Wall

In September, I attended a webinar with poet and author Clint Smith. Given the deluge of online words I only half-absorb, I am surprised by how often I’ve since thought about something Mr.Smith said. For African Americans, he said, hope is not a feeling but a discipline. It is continuing to chip away at a wall even if you have no good reason to believe that you, your children, or your children’s children will ever see the wall come down.

I’m not sure why this metaphor took up residence in my mind. Maybe it’s because in this long, anxious season, hope has survived more as a discipline than as a feeling. Or maybe it’s because in 2021, the wall gave way a little.

The barriers that separate us from people in prison are hardly metaphorical, but even in the criminal justice system, some cracks appeared. After months of advocacy, the firm and its juvenile justice coalition partners persuaded the New Jersey Legislature to eliminate all monetary penalties associated with adjudications of juvenile delinquency. The law applies not only prospectively but also retroactively to vacate outstanding balances. Young people leaving juvenile facilities can now focus on their education and employment without fear that unpaid debts will land them back behind bars. Meanwhile, the firm settled a long-running case on behalf of a transgender woman who was assaulted when placed in male units in two local jails. In addition to compensating her for the harms she suffered, the defendants agreed to terms that will require them to search, transport, and house transgender inmates in accordance with their gender identities rather than based on the sex they were assigned at birth.

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Pro Bono by the Numbers

The firm dedicated

23757 hours

to pro bono work
in 2021

Lowenstein lawyers served

623 pro bono
clients

in 2021

On average,
each Lowenstein
lawyer spent

64 hours

on pro bono matters
in 2021

The firm has dedicated

488815 hours

to pro bono work over
the past 25 years