Adaneka Witter Judge
”Ensuring access to justice means ensuring people who probably would not have had the opportunity to get legal help have that help, and having people know there is an organization out there willing to help them. Justice is not out of your reach just because you don’t have the funds to pay for an attorney.”
“Dedicate yourself to what gives your life true meaning and purpose; make a positive difference in someone's life.” — Roy T. Bennett
If ever there is someone who embodies this quote and more, it is Volunteer Lawyers for Justice’s February 2024 Defender of Justice, Adaneka Witter Judge. Dedicated to her community, to her dreams, and to a better tomorrow, Adaneka is proof you don’t have to go very far to find the best among us.
Previously a Spring 2023 AT&T Intern at VLJ, Adaneka joined full time in June 2023 as a Law Clerk supporting VLJ’s Children’s Representation Program, South Ward Promise Neighborhood Program, and Tenancy Program. In fact, the Tenancy Program is the heavy hitter for Adaneka, and most days she completes intakes for clients from the early stages of eviction all the way to those facing a lockout the next day. Fortunately for those new clients, Adaneka is a source of calm and empathy, putting herself in their shoes to provide as helpful and compassionate assistance as possible. A question Adaneka poses to herself every day is “What would I want from someone if the roles were reversed?”
A graduate of Montclair State University (Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies) and Fairleigh Dickinson University (Masters in Administrative Science), Adaneka is pursuing her dream of becoming an attorney, finding herself in law school class every Monday through Thursday from 6:00 PM to almost 10:00 PM. In short, Adaneka lives and breathes the law, whether it is a full day at VLJ or her evening classes at Rutgers Law (class of 2025). It takes a strong spirit to spend 14 hours or more most days steeped in the law, and Adaneka’s strength is grounded in serving her community and moving the needle forward on justice. When asked what her biggest accomplishment at VLJ is, Adaneka remarked, “The number of clients I have been able to interact with. Even though I don’t always know how cases pan out, I find solace in knowing I can be a resource helping clients get one step closer to justice.”
As anyone in the civil legal services space will tell you, this work is heavy, which makes it important to take care of oneself, or as Adaneka puts it, “You can’t take care of a client if you aren’t taking care of yourself.” Taking care of oneself isn’t always easy, and some office environments and cultures only make matters worse. Fortunately, Adaneka has found a supportive team at VLJ: “My favorite thing about working at VLJ is my coworkers. I have a very supportive team and I am so thankful to fight this good fight with them! I came from corporate and was unfamiliar with working in a legal nonprofit setting, so I was pleasantly surprised at how supportive the environment is at VLJ.”
When not at VLJ or neck deep in textbooks, caselaw, or legal treatises, Adaneka is the secretary of the NAACP Newark along with serving as the 3LE Representative for the Rutgers Law Student Bar Association and membership in the Rutgers Law Association of Black Law Students. Of course, Adaneka isn’t all law and no leisure; recently she has become a cinephile, finding comfort courtesy of the big screen.
For those who have the pleasure of knowing Adaneka, her being VLJ’s February 2024 Defender of Justice makes perfect sense. For those who don’t know her, keep an eye out, because as Alicia Keys wrote, “this girl is on fire.”
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