Videos

Natalie J. Kraner: I enjoy seeing the impact of our work on clients and communities and equally enjoy being able to help shape the efforts to engage in systemic law reform from a policy perspective. I think the strength of our program is the diversity and how many different ways and different levers that we can use to kind of achieve change.

Parimal Garg: One thing that has been great about Lowenstein is everyone is incredibly supportive about pro bono work, and they're very insistent that the same standards that we apply to our billable clients apply to our pro bono clients. From my personal experience, oftentimes it's a better way to get experience actually arguing in court  pro bono matters where, you know, the groups that are litigating are more likely trying to vindicate a principle, or to uphold a theory of the law. Those cases are more likely to actually be argued, so it can be really good experience for younger attorneys.

David M. Posner: I'm currently working on a couple of projects related to bankruptcy and the Taxi Medallion project, and individuals who need assistance because of their situation with their taxi medallions and SBA loans.

Kristin V. Taylor: The matters themselves are really good training opportunities because, particularly in the nonprofit space, they're really businesses, so they have the same types of issues that any billing client has just at a smaller scale, particularly in the initial formation phase.

Peter Quinn: It goes into the pipeline of “here is new work coming in.” Just like billable work, we need to find someone to get on this, to join this team or to take on this task or what have you. And so, I still routinely get stuff from our practice coordinator that is, you know, pro bono, billable, pro bono, billable. That's a huge indication to me that these are on equal footing. It's just as important to the firm that these matters get staffed and you know, get appropriate attention.

Crystal McDonald: For me, I kind of treat my pro bono clients as if they are my billable clients. A lot of their work has a lot of overlap to what I do in the group. So, it's a lot of individuals who are starting a business. 

Daniel W. Borneman: With pro bono clients, you really feel like an expert and an advisor, and it's a very different experience, and I get the feeling that I went to law school to get by doing it.

Geena M. Caporale: Ever since my first pro bono project, day one as a Summer Associate, I was communicating with the client, preparing the documents, the initial drafts of the documents. The young attorney is really the first point of contact. That assisted me in working on my communication skills and learning how to speak with clients and interact with clients.

Peter Quinn: I love walking around the offices and seeing the little window clings for folks that have reached a certain number of pro bono hours in the previous years. People display those proudly. I display hose proudly.

Markina J. Julceus: If you're not a litigator and you're not necessarily interested in going into court or writing a brief, the center's got plenty of other opportunities for you. We've got our tenancy clinic where you don't have to agree to take on the representation and can just help advise on housing issues, so there's different ways for people to get involved.

Jeffrey M. Shapiro: I choose to do what I am strong at, which is to be a corporate lawyer, to support many nonprofit organizations that need help with  an acquisition or a merger or some other traditional type of transaction and assisting their boards that are people who are not employed by the organizations, not paid by the organizations, but so supportive of the missions to help support those who are in real need.

Daniel A. Suckerman: Pro bono work I look for is transactional work, and I really like when I can use my expertise that I've honed in my practice to help real people with real issues that really matter. We represented an LGBT Community Center in Asbury. We helped them from soup to nuts, to locate a property, lease that property, enter into a contract to purchase that property, finance the property. And now it's a thriving actual physical community center, and that was really a tremendous experience that took, you know, years of effort but… tremendous success.

Çagla Yetis: Most of the pro bono projects that I am involved with now are usually on the corporate side. I have helped prepare governing documents for a lot of organizations that don't always have a lot of funds to pay attorneys to create these operating agreements, or form agreements that they can use with their customers or their clients. I'm currently helping actually two students that are at Princeton who are creating a benefit corporation, and they're going to be writing screenplays and creating like an accessible theater organization.

Alexander Shalom: Pro bono work builds skills for people, not just for taking pro bono cases, but also on the billable side, and I think one of the best examples of that is the work that the Structured Finance group has done with an organization called Brick by Brick. And so Brick by Brick builds affordable housing and tries to come up with innovative models for creating affordable housing, and our team at Lowenstein has, over the years, worked on some really complex financial arrangements for Brick by Brick that have been wildly important to the success of that organization, but they've also helped build skills amongst associates and even partners at the firm who are working on innovative things that they can then theoretically take to the billable side, and so, that sort of skill building, particularly among young lawyers, but really among all lawyers, is…You can't quantify the value that has.

Yelky Perez: What makes my work with Brick by Brick so impactful is that it combines what I already do every day, but with a mission driven impact, so you really can get to see how some of your legal skills can be applied and result in community impact.