"I feel called to give back by using my training to serve people who are too often left without a voice."
Continuing Volunteer Lawyers for Justice’s Volunteer Voices series, Melissa Sarsten Polito, Managing Associate at Dentons, shares how her own history with resilience fuels her pro bono efforts with VLJ’s ReLeSe (Reentry Legal Services) Program:
"I volunteer with VLJ because I know firsthand what it means to face financial instability and to have to advocate for myself and my family, and I also know that not everyone has the tools, second chances, or support that I was fortunate to receive. I feel called to give back by using my training to serve people who are too often left without a voice.
To me, VLJ’s mission of ensuring access to justice for people experiencing poverty means meeting people where they are in moments of real crisis and making the legal system accessible, understandable, and effective for them—equipping clients with advocacy they otherwise could not afford, and, in doing so, offering the choices and second chances that I was afforded in my own life.
Serving VLJ clients is helpful to me both personally and professionally. Personally, it keeps me grounded in the lessons of my own journey—gratitude, resilience, and responsibility—and reminds me why advocacy matters. Professionally, it sharpens my lawyering by expanding my problem-solving perspective, deepening client empathy, and ensuring that my skills are consistently put to work for those who need them most.”
By providing the advocacy and "second chances" she once received, Melissa is helping bring VLJ’s mission of ensuring access to justice for people experiencing poverty to life across New Jersey.
We are grateful to have Melissa as a volunteer and thank her for compassionately paying justice forward!
Ready to join Melissa in making a difference? Get started by contacting Emerald Sheay at esheay@vljnj.org or visiting vljnj.org/why-probono.