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BlackRock donates generous gift to VLJ

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Newark, NJ (March 10, 2021) — Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) is pleased to announce it has received an unrestricted $25,000 grant from BlackRock in support of our legal programs.

VLJ provides free legal services to New Jersey residents living at or below the poverty level. Our clients face seemingly insurmountable civil legal issues and cannot afford lawyers, but VLJ provides education, counseling, advice, and direct legal services. In 2020, VLJ quickly shifted to providing free virtual legal services and also focused on educating the community and potential volunteers. VLJ served 1,080 clients and their families, impacting 2,525 people.

March 2021 Volunteer of the Month: Meg Slachetka

VLJ is thrilled to honor Meg Slachetka as our Volunteer of the Month for March. Meg is Counsel at Lowenstein Sandler, where she works in the firm’s in Antitrust and Competition Group. Meg has a long-standing commitment to pro bono work; she took on her first case pro bono as a summer associate at Lowenstein, helping a VLJ client with a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy petition.

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VLJ announces a gift from David Bershad

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Newark, NJ – March 2, 2021 – Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) is excited to announce the creation of the Bershad Communications Fellowship. Funded through the generosity of long-time Board Member David Bershad and his wife, Mindy Cohen, the fellowship will enable VLJ to enhance its public profile as the organization celebrates its 20th year anniversary.

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VLJ's 20th Anniversary

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Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) is excited to celebrate the organization’s 20th anniversary! VLJ was founded in 2001 as a program of the Legal Services Foundation to provide direct legal representation to residents of Essex County, New Jersey. The program began with a core group of 30 volunteer attorneys and was led by Karen Sacks, who in her 15 years as VLJ’s executive director transformed the program into a statewide pro bono leader. In 2008, VLJ separately incorporated as its own 501(c)(3) New Jersey not-for-profit corporation.

February 2021 Volunteer of the Month: Catherine Fitch

This month, VLJ is excited to honor volunteer attorney Catherine Fitch. Catherine is the Managing Counsel, Patents at Merck and has been dedicating her time to pro bono with VLJ since 2012. She first began volunteering in the Bankruptcy Program, offering advice to individuals considering Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

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VLJ Receives a Generous Donation from Amazon

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Newark, NJ – January 26, 2021 – Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) is excited to announce that it has received a generous donation from Amazon at the suggestion of its volunteer partner Audible, an Amazon company. VLJ, which is headquartered in Newark, provides free civil legal services for New Jersey residents living at or below the poverty level through in-house lawyers and pro bono lawyers throughout the legal community. VLJ has partnered with Audible’s legal department, also based in Newark, who provide pro bono legal services to client populations in dire need of help. With this unexpected support from Amazon, VLJ will be able to continue to change lives through legal assistance, especially for those who have suffered disproportionately as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

January 2021 Volunteer of the Month: Daniel D'Alessandro

VLJ is pleased to recognize Daniel D’Alessandro as our January Volunteer of the Month. Dan is a partner with McCarter & English, where he is a commercial and securities litigator. January is National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Month, and given Dan’s extensive volunteerism with VLJ’s NJ Human Trafficking Victims’ Legal Assistance Program, it is very fitting he receive this distinction this month.

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Experts Fear Coming 'Tsunami' of Evictions

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“There’s so much talk right now about how Covid is causing an eviction crisis,” Kitson says. “And the reality is that we have had a significant eviction crisis in this country—and certainly in the state—for quite some time. What Covid is doing is worsening it at an alarmingly rapid rate and also shining a light on the many ways in which so many renters in New Jersey were very vulnerable to begin with.”

New Mediation Program for Landlords and Tenants, Emergency Aid to Renters, to be Provided by Housing Initiatives of Princeton

Retired judge Philip Carchman helped [Housing Initiatives of Princeton] develop a mediation program run by volunteers that will bring landlords and tenants together to negotiate payment amounts and timelines. Volunteer Lawyers for Justice is working to help get lawyers to serve as advocates for tenants.

N.J. must ban ‘the tenant blacklist’ | Editorial

Few people realize that even if you win a court case against your landlord, its very existence will continue to haunt you. It could be that you didn’t pay rent for legitimate reasons, like having no heat or water. But tenants are still getting blackballed from future rentals, as if even asserting your rights against a landlord is offensive.

“It’s wildly unfair,” Jessica Kitson of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice says. “We have clients living without heat, without hot water. They can’t find a new place. They have an eviction filing on their record that is being used against them.”

VLJ Welcomes Four New Team Members

VLJ recently invited three new staff attorneys to join our Tenancy Team, thanks to the generosity of the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund. These new staff attorneys will be on the front lines combating the impending eviction crisis in New Jersey. We also welcome Sabrina Ambrose, our new Administrative Assistant, who will be vital to VLJ's ability to provide legal support to low-income New Jerseyans. Welcome to the team, Zainab Awelenje, Nina DePalma, Jeff Stephens, and Sabrina Ambrose!

December 2020 Volunteer of the Month: Sydney Darling

VLJ is pleased to honor Sydney J. Darling, a partner at the Newark-based law firm of Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga, as December 2020’s Volunteer of the Month. At Walsh, Sydney works primarily for lenders, corporations, and other business and institutional clients, but she finds satisfying balance when offering her pro bono services to individual clients who could not otherwise afford counsel.

Should NJ eviction records be kept private if a tenant wasn't evicted? Housing experts say yes

The proposed court rule amendments are a good first step, but a few tweaks could be made, housing groups and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice said in a letter to the court.

New Jersey Braces for Rent Due When Health Emergency Ends

The first of the month means rent is due, but thousands of residents are still struggling to pay their bills. Under a state moratorium on evictions during the COVID-19 public-health crisis, renters can’t be kicked out of their homes, even if they miss a payment. But what happens when that rule expires? Will families find help if landlords don’t follow the rules?

On Giving Tuesday, Don’t Forget Your Own Neighbors

Landlords aren’t getting the money they need. The eviction cases they file are likely to number in the hundreds of thousands, advocates predict. Think about the human toll of evicting that many people, all at once.

“It’s going to be a disaster, quite honestly,” says [Cathy] Keenan of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice.

November 2020 Volunteer of the Month: Michael Kondria

Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) is proud to feature Michael Kondria as its November Volunteer of the Month. Michael is Assistant Counsel-Environmental at PSEG Services Corporation (PSEG) where he practices environmental law and focuses on environmental health and safety matters arising from federal, state and local laws and regulations.

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As Housing Crisis Looms, a Call to Action for NJ’s Legal Community

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NJ Lawyers---We Need Your Help Now!

VLJ’s Executive Director, Cathy Keenan, penned this op-ed with New Jersey First Lady, Tammy Murphy, as a call to action to lawyers across the state to volunteer and help address the looming eviction crisis.

Volunteer Lawyers for Justice Supports New Jersey Tenants During COVID-19 Housing Crisis

Cathy Keenan, Executive Director of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ), joined TAPintoTV’s Brian Brodeur to discuss the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund's Housing Stability Project Grant.

Keenan described the work of the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund (NJPRF), which was established after the COVID-19 pandemic, and which has raised over $37 million from over 60,000 donors to address the economic and human crisis that New Jersey has experienced.

New Jersey State Bar Association Honors Gibbons Director Michael Griffinger with Lifetime Pro Bono Achievement Award

Michael R. Griffinger, a Director in the Commercial & Criminal Litigation Department at Gibbons P.C., has been honored with a Lifetime Pro Bono Achievement Award from the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) Pro Bono Committee. Honorees, including Mr. Griffinger, were celebrated during a virtual ceremony on October 27.

Housing and Community Development Network of NJ Enlisted to Provide Help as Housing Crisis Deepens

The Housing Stability Project Grant from the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund (NJPRF), will allow the network to provide residents with access to housing counseling and legal assistance if needed. The network partners with organizations, such as Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, which provides comprehensive legal services to economically-disadvantaged adults, children and families in the state.