Our History & Mission
At Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ), our mission is to ensure access to justice for people experiencing poverty. VLJ’s staff and trustees drafted an ambitious mission that doesn’t set out to merely provide free legal services, but to ensure access to justice. Our mission focuses on people experiencing poverty, stressing that poverty can be (and should be) transitory. We believe that legal services have the ability to effectuate profound change, including economic stability and prosperity. VLJ mobilizes volunteers to work alongside staff to address critical legal needs across New Jersey, advancing racial, social, and economic justice.
In 2000, Susan Feeney (McCarter & English), Michael Griffinger (Gibbons, P.C.), and Maureen McCully Winograd (Essex County Bar Association) saw that the legal services offices in Essex County were overwhelmed with requests. Recognizing the untapped resource of the private bar, the trio hired Karen Sacks to investigate and develop the framework for a pro bono model that would work in Essex County. After a year, Karen and her advisory committee had obtained enough funding, developed an infrastructure, and recruited sufficient volunteers to form Volunteer Lawyers for Justice. Karen was hired as VLJ’s founding executive director, where she had a remarkable 17-year tenure growing VLJ from a grassroots organization to an award-winning statewide pro bono leader.
At the start, VLJ aimed to address the unmet civil legal needs of individuals with no- or low-incomes in Essex County. Initially operating as a program of the Legal Services Foundation of Essex County, VLJ focused on housing, consumer, family, and education law cases, assigning them to volunteer attorneys. Despite early challenges in institutionalizing pro bono culture in law firms and garnering support from funders unfamiliar with civil legal pro bono efforts, VLJ achieved significant milestones, including influencing court rules that expanded the pool of potential volunteers, partnering with law firms and corporate legal departments, and expanding services statewide.
Today, under the leadership of Executive Director Cathy Keenan, VLJ remains dedicated to its mission of ensuring access to justice for those experiencing poverty, taking cases and changing the lives of thousands of New Jerseyans every year while harnessing the pro bono power of hundreds of volunteer attorneys and non-attorneys. The organization's success is attributed to the inspiration drawn from clients’ resilience and hope as they confront challenges from landlords, abusers, traffickers, creditors, and others in their pursuit of justice.
At VLJ, collaboration is key and we make a much larger impact because of our community of supporters, who help us to “Take Cases and Change Lives” every day. Please get involved with the exciting work taking place at VLJ by volunteering, donating, signing up for our newsletter, or following us on social media.
““A lot of people like myself, when they see that a landlord has a lawyer who’s doing things to you when you’re not knowledgeable, you act different. You become nervous. You panic. Programs like your program, which helps people, stops people from being bullied from their landlord. She [VLJ staff attorney] helped me get that case dismissed, and I really do appreciate the help. She was really attentive and got in there right away. When I told her that I was going down there, she said ‘Tell me when you’re on your way.’ and made sure that I wasn’t there on my own. I’m disabled and me having to leave in 24 hours—that was a lot to deal with. But I appreciate the fact that I was able to get some help.””
A Production of the Rutgers iTV Studio, Produced by Hébert Peck, Orélus Media
A Production of the Rutgers iTV Studio, Produced by Hébert Peck, Orélus Media
Interview with Univision 41 Nueva York - August 2, 2023
The original interview appeared on Univision 41 Nueva York’s website. The original interview and additional information (both in Spanish) can be accessed by clicking here.
Our Board of Trustees
Tricia O’Reilly, Esq., Chair
Partner, Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP
Sneha Desai, Esq., Vice Chair
Chief Legal Counsel, Global Litigation & Employment, Stryker
Donald Cussen, Treasurer
Senior Vice President, Senior Consulting Group, RBC Wealth Management
Kaitlyn E. Stone, Esq., Secretary
Partner, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Matthew Clements
Senior Vice President, Columbia Bank
Daniel D’Alessandro, Esq.
Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Wendy Feldman, Esq.
Lead Counsel, Data Privacy, Zoetis
Catherine Fitch, Esq.
Managing Counsel, Patents, Merck
Joe Giovannoli
Founder & CEO, 9Sail
Michael Golden, Esq.
Asst. VP-Senior Legal Counsel, AT&T
Mala Ahuja Harker, Esq.
Partner, Friedman Kaplan Seiler Adelman & Robbins LLP
Jessica Hodkinson, Esq.
Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Panasonic North America
Michael Hyun, Esq.
Vice President-Procurement and Deputy General Counsel, PSEG
Nicholas Insua, Esq.
Partner, Reed Smith LLP
Cathy Keenan, JD (ex officio)
Executive Director, Volunteer Lawyers for Justice
Kelly Lloyd Lankford, Esq.
Senior Counsel, Commercial Litigation, AbbVie
Judith McCarthy, Esq.
Attorney, Cheshire Law Group
Howard Menaker, Esq.
Jennifer Prioleau, Esq.
Maritza Rodríguez, Esq.
Rodríguez Law Firm, LLC
Tracey Salmon-Smith, Esq.
Partner, Faegre Drinker
Eric Schwimmer, Esq.
Jeffrey M. Shapiro, Esq.
Partner, Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Stacey Slater, Esq.
President and Founder, Pro Bono Strategies
Catherine A. Trinkle, Esq.
VP and Deputy General Counsel, BASF
Kevin Weber, Esq.
Director, Gibbons P.C.
Melissa F. Wernick, Esq.
Member, Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
Amy Woltman, Esq.
VP & Chief Legal Officer, Retirement Strategies, Prudential Financial
EMERITUS TRUSTEES
David Bershad (ret.)
Michael R. Griffinger, Esq.,
Generation Now Committee
Generation Now Committee members are early-career professionals (less than 12 years out of school) passionate about VLJ’s mission and giving back in a meaningful way.
Abigail M. Luhn, Esq., Co-Chair Associate, Faegre Drinker Biddle
& Reath LLP
Brandon Lee Wolff, Esq., Co-Chair
Aaron Cohen, Esq. Associate, Price, Meese, Shulman
& D'Arminio, PC
Aaron Haier, Esq.
Associate, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Robert Holup, Esq.
Associate, Berkowitz, Lichtstein, Kuritsky, Giasullo & Gross, LLC
Jordynn Jackson, Esq.
Associate, Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP
Leonard V. Jones, Esq.
Associate, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Christina LaBruno, Esq. Associate, Gibbons, P.C.
Ryan Savercool, Esq. Associate, McCarter & English, LLP
Thomas Zelante, Esq.
Associate, Barnes & Thornburg, LLP
Board and Gen. Now contact
Interested in joining VLJ’s Board of Trustees or Generation Now Committee?
Please contact Deja Kemp-Salliey, Development Associate, for more information.
Press/Media contact
Eric W. Hughes
Bershad Director of Communications
Our Staff
Executive Leadership
Eric W. Hughes - Bershad Director of Communications
Cathy Keenan - Executive Director
Jessica Kitson - Director of Legal Advocacy
Tracy Nelson - Director of Finance
Diana Onuschak - Director of Administration and Community Engagement
Karen Robinson - Managing Attorney
Thank you for your interest in joining Volunteer Lawyers for Justice. Currently, there are no open positions. Please check back again soon.
At Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, we believe a diverse and inclusive team fosters innovation, creativity, and collaboration, driving our work, and ultimately justice, forward. We hire based on talent without bias toward age, familial status, gender identity/expression, involvement with the criminal justice system, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal and state law.