News & Updates
Volunteer Lawyers for Justice staff member Jessica Kitson (Director of Legal Advocacy) and Board Trustee Jessica Hodkinson (Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Panasonic Corporation of North America) had their article, The Power of Pro Bono Partnerships, published in the New Jersey State Bar Association’s New Jersey Lawyer April 2023 edition.
Are you tired of seeing poverty in America? Are you fed up with the fact that poverty is considered a routine social ill? Something that has come to be expected and accepted. At VLJ, we are tired of seeing poverty and we are fed up with accommodating it, generation after generation, broken promise after broken promise.
Cathy Keenan, VLJ’s Executive Director, recently attended a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and sociologist, Matthew Desmond, in advance of his new book, “Poverty, by America.” Desmond’s talk left Cathy energized and reinvigorated and now she has a call to action for the larger VLJ family.
Volunteers Lawyers for Justice was recently highlighted in a March 29, 2023, article from Psychology Today. The article discussed the criminals records-impact survivors of human trafficking face. Also featured in the article are VLJ volunteer Michelle Stegmann and the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) must be Irish, because we struck gold with our March 2023 Volunteer of the Month, Kerrie R. Heslin!
Kerrie is a Partner at Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, P.C., one of the largest labor and employment firms in the New York metropolitan area with offices on the nation’s east and west coasts. Devoting a majority of her practice to litigation and employment matters involving discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower claims, wage and hour and benefits issues on behalf of employers, Kerrie oversees the Firm’s litigation team of 18 attorneys. Kerrie received a Bachelor of Science in Finance/Marketing from Syracuse University, and she received her Juris Doctor from Seton Hall Law. Kerrie is licensed to practice law in New Jersey, and she is admitted before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
“Greg”* is a veteran who was referred by Community Hope SSVF to Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) for assistance with his debt relief matter. At the time of his referral to VLJ, Greg was living in a small shack with no running water or electricity, forcing Greg to depend on his “neighbors” for electricity via an extension cord.
At one point, Greg’s neighbors put their PSEG bill in his name, with Greg’s consent, but failed to make multiple payments. This resulted in a PSEG bill of $2,940.64 in Greg’s name that was ultimately sent to collections. This unpaid bill was the only thing preventing Greg from obtaining much needed housing assistance, thus forcing him to remain unsuitably housed.
Newark, NJ – Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) is excited to announce that volunteer Catherine Fitch, a resident of Cranford, New Jersey, recently joined VLJ’s Board of Trustees. Catherine is currently Managing Counsel, Patents at Merck where she has been involved with Merck’s Pro Bono Program including volunteering with VLJ’s Divorce and Debt Relief legal clinics. Catherine received a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Wesleyan University, and she received her Juris Doctor with high honors from Rutgers Law School-Newark. Catherine is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
February is the season for spreading love which is perfect timing to honor and celebrate Steven Kim, VLJ’s February 2023 Volunteer of the Month, who has a huge heart for pro bono and volunteering to ensure access to justice for people experiencing poverty. Steven is presently Vice President, Corporate Counsel at Prudential Financial where he has been for nearly six years. Steven holds a pharmacy degree from Rutgers College of Pharmacy, and he received his Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law. Steven is barred in New York and holds an in-house license in New Jersey.
VLJ can’t properly ring in the new year without another installment of our Defender of Justice series. VLJ’s February 2023 Defender of Justice is a name and face many know and appreciate, and she is a tour de force for our veterans: Alexandra Bravo. Alexandra is a staff attorney who oversees VLJ’s Veterans Legal Program and handles issues relating to child support as they arise in other programs. Alexandra is no stranger to VLJ, having interned with the organization during law school (summer 2016) prior to joining as a staff attorney in October 2019. Alexandra received her bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University, graduating magna cum laude, and she graduated from Rutgers Law School-Newark in 2017.
It’s not always the case that someone knows they want to become an attorney so early, but fortunately for VLJ and the Newark community, our new AT&T Spring 2023 intern had that box checked years ago. VLJ warmly welcomes Adaneka Witter Judge, a 2L at Rutgers Law School-Newark, who will be spend her spring semester with VLJ supporting several programs, starting out with VLJ’s Divorce and Debt Relief Programs. In true Adaneka fashion, she hit the ground running, taking full advantage of interning in different practice areas.
FurtherJustice Foundation Awards $100,000 Legal Accelerator Grant to Volunteer Lawyers for Justice to Address Legal and Social Issues That Contribute to Housing Instability in Essex County
Newark, NJ – According to recent reports, Essex County leads New Jersey with the largest backlog of eviction filings (at more than 15,000). Exacerbating the backlog is a long-standing fact that New Jersey is one of the most expensive states in the U.S. for renters, with the fair market value of a two-bed apartment far exceeding most households’ ability to afford. This means more families in New Jersey, especially Essex County and Newark, are unable to afford safe, quality housing. Realizing that unconventional times call for unconventional measures, and to aid VLJ in its efforts to help more tenants in Essex County stay housed at home, FurtherJustice Foundation recently awarded a $100,000 Legal Accelerator Grant to VLJ’s Tenancy Program.
New year, new law school semester, which means a new intern! VLJ welcomes Elias Bull as an intern assigned to VLJ’s Tenancy Program. A graduate of Rutgers – New Brunswick (2016) with a BS in mechanical engineering, Elias is currently a 2L at Rutgers Law – Newark. Elias comes to VLJ hoping to gain experience on and insight into New Jersey’s eviction crisis as well as the many issues that tenants face, especially those that raise the risk of housing instability.
“Yasmine"* came to the United States from a Caribbean country after being recruited under false promises from a labor broker. The broker promised Yasmine a good wage and decent living conditions if she would move to the U.S. to be a domestic worker for a family. That family secured Yasmine a working visa for her travel here. However, upon arriving in the U.S., Yasmine was not paid the agreed upon wage or given humane living conditions. Quite the opposite: her employers paid her less than half of the promised wage, and Yasmine was given no personal space except a bed in the kitchen.
Eventually, Yasmine made contact with VLJ, and through our Trafficking Program, Yasmine's case was placed with volunteer attorneys at a private law firm; the volunteer attorneys worked with Yasmine over several months in 2021 to prepare a T Visa petition.
As is a beloved VLJ tradition, every month we highlight an “above and beyond” volunteer as part of VLJ’s Volunteer of the Month series. For January 2023, we highlight three VLJ volunteers who donated their time and talent as members of VLJ’s Board of Trustees: Angela Coxe, Bill Krovatin, and Susan McGahan. Angela, Bill, and Susan completed their terms as board trustees at the end of 2022, and have now transitioned off the board. As a way to say “Thank you!” for their service, please read about a few of the names and faces who serve and support VLJ.
As is the case with too many tenants, “Eliza” had a pending eviction action against her, filed in October 2021, of which she was unaware. In early November 2022, VLJ received Eliza's information from the court and initially contacted her to see if she was interested in receiving legal help. Learning that the eviction case threatened her housing stability, Eliza signed up for the Lowenstein Sandler Prudential Tenancy Clinic held in mid-November 2022.
“Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.” Those words from Hank Rosso capture many elements of what it takes to raise support for a worthy cause: gentleness, art, teaching, joy, and giving. One would argue that those five elements, or more precisely, characteristics, are what make a great fundraiser. Ask anyone at VLJ about our fundraising and the response would be, “Yes, we have those five characteristics here, and her name is Jaclyn Kramer.” Gentleness, art, teaching, joy, giving, and more are what bring VLJ to honor, recognize, and appreciate Jaclyn Kramer as VLJ’s December 2022 Defender of Justice.
Newark, NJ - With the lingering effects of COVID-19, inflation, and limited wage growth wreaking havoc on the family pocketbook, Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) has seen an increase in the number of individuals requiring help with consumer debt matters including bankruptcy. To aid VLJ in its efforts to assist more clients with consumer debt and bankruptcy issues, the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation (ACBF) recently awarded a $10,000 grant to VLJ’s Debt Relief Legal Program (DRLP).
For some of our pro bono attorneys, VLJ is their first experience with volunteering. For others, they’ve been volunteering long before joining the ranks of ESQ. This month, we honor one such pro bono attorney who started her volunteer work long before she knew the joys of blue booking, CLEs, and “It depends.” For VLJ’s December 2022 Volunteer of the Month, we honor and recognize Michelle Smith, Esq., Pro Bono Fellow for the City of Newark at McCarter & English LLP.
With today being Veterans Day, VLJ is mindful of the many volunteers and supporters who help us serve those who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. For VLJ’s November 2022 Volunteer of the Month, we honor Steve Berlin, Esq., Managing Senior Counsel Labor and Employment at Panasonic North America, a longtime volunteer with VLJ’s Veterans Legal Wellness Clinic.
Steve attended the University of Maryland, where he majored in journalism, and then attended law school at Brooklyn Law. Steve has been practicing law his entire life and “can’t imagine doing anything else.” Steve goes so far as to say that he “loves” the practice of law, describing it as “a challenging profession but rewarding.” Steve is active with the New Jersey State Bar Association and serves as editor of their publication, New Jersey Labor and Employment Law Quarterly.
