Pro Bono Report 2022

Kwok Noise, 2016, made by 1,115 participants
from 16 schools and community organizations
Photo by Steven and William Ladd

Lowenstein Center
for the Public Interest

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.

Immigration

Civil Rights And Liberties

Access to Justice

Nonprofits and Microbusinesses

Criminal Justice

Acknowledgments

Collages

Throughout this report, you’ll see images from one of our nonprofit pro bono clients, Scrollathon. Brothers and artists Steven and William Ladd founded Scrollathon to engage communities in the creation of art through storytelling. Each of the now tens of thousands of Scrollathon participants rolls together ribbons of fabric into small scrolls. Participants may then name their scroll or tell a story about it. Eventually, every scroll is embedded with others in wooden frames that are attached together to make giant collages.

Scrollathon’s work captures something important about this moment–that people can and do listen to the stories of those who are not like them and find inspiration in both individual expression and collective action.

This report includes many examples of people coming together to uplift and expand what they define as their communities.

When Afghan refugees arrived by the tens of thousands after the Taliban retook that country, neighborhoods throughout the United States found ways to welcome them, and lawyers at Lowenstein and scores of other firms mobilized to help them gain the legal right to stay here.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and many states enacted bans and other severe restrictions on abortion, lawyers (including more than 60 at Lowenstein), activists, health care providers, and supportive government officials convened to secure and enhance abortion access in the states where providers will need to treat patients traveling in search of safe and legal reproductive health care.
When nonprofits and microbusinesses brought us their legal needs, we responded by strengthening their infrastructure so that they can sustain our communities.
When social science, neuroscience, and relentless activism and advocacy revealed how over-incarceration had broken individuals and decimated communities of color, the legislatures and courts finally began to repair some of the damage. This year, our lawyers won the release of people who had served decades in prison for offenses they committed when they were young and succeeded in holding prison officials to account for placing inmates with known mental illness in prolonged solitary confinement.

These acts reflect not only compassion and generosity but also defiance. Every time we invite strangers in and look for ways to connect with them, we take a stand against division, rage, and selfishness. We remember that we can be a counterpoint to oppression and an antidote to despair, and that together we can make a giant collage with space for all our stories.

Warmly,

Catherine Weiss
Chair, Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest
Lowenstein Sandler

Scroll Space, 2019, made by 1,700 participants,
including students, seniors, youth in detention centers,
and people with visual impairments
Photo by Steven and William Ladd