Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
e-mail: communications@probonoinst.org
website: www.probonoinst.org

PBI to Honor PSE&G, Gibbons P.C., McCarter & English, LLP, and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice with the 2024 CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award

Pro Bono Institute (PBI) is pleased to honor PSE&G – in partnership with Gibbons P.C., McCarter & English, LLP, and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) – with the 2024 CPBO Partner Award. PBI will present the award on Wednesday, October 9, at the PBI Annual Dinner at Gotham Hall in New York. The Awardees have a demonstrated and sustained impact addressing a critical legal need in a vulnerable community through pro bono legal work. Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), a project of PBI, created the CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award to recognize innovative pro bono collaborations of in-house legal departments with law firms and public interest organizations.

PSE&G, Gibbons P.C., McCarter & English, LLP, and VLJ launched the Veterans Legal Program (VLP) in 2014, offering legal assistance to veterans on issues such as child support modifications, driver’s license restoration, criminal record expungements, estate planning, eviction defense and other civil legal issues. Over the past decade, the partners have adapted and expanded the VLP’s services to meet the civil legal needs of veterans. The VLP provides both brief advice clinics and full representation to veterans.

The VLP is the first project of its kind in New Jersey. The partners created the VLP because they identified a gap in existing legal services for veterans in New Jersey, 5.4 percent of whom live below the poverty line, and 34 percent of whom are age 75 or older. The partnership’s objective is to address these wealth, demographic and access-to-justice gaps for New Jersey’s veterans by providing them with pro bono legal services to address their critical legal needs.

“Part of PSE&G’s mission is to support the communities we serve, and our company has a proud tradition dedicated to service,” said Grace Park, executive vice president and general counsel, PSEG. “Through the Veteran’s Legal Program, we work to get our veterans back on the road to stability and work toward a life they want to live. PSEG is proud to support those who have served our country through the Veterans Legal Program.”

Since the launch of the VLP, 160 attorneys and 15 staff volunteers have collectively dedicated over 2,038 hours to handle 697 legal matters, providing pro bono legal services valued at $760,637. The in-house participation from PSE&G in this partnership includes 38 attorney volunteers (76 percent of the lawyers in the department) and nine legal staff volunteers, who have handled over 300 legal matters, totaling more than 600 hours of pro bono legal services, valued at $245,335.

The partners launched the Military Legal Assistance Program, now known as the VLP, in 2014 with a monthly by-appointment clinic focused on criminal records expungement, driver’s license restoration, and child support. The partners then expanded the project in 2017 to offer two legal clinics every month on a broader array of issues. The partners also scaled up the project by inviting other legal departments and law firms to volunteer, which significantly increased the capacity of the project to serve more veterans every month.

During the pandemic, the VLP pivoted to offer virtual clinics to serve veterans with compromised immune systems and other limitations. In 2022, VLP began offering holistic legal check-ups at the East Orange VA Medical Center, in addition to offering the limited-scope clinics.

In 2023, the VLP piloted a new child support modification clinic in recognition of the immense need for support in this area. The clinic uses a “rolling” approach where volunteers can provide limited-scope support to veterans who are working pro se on their child support modification applications in between clinics, so that veterans do not need to wait for the next scheduled clinic to receive services.

Many veterans have received life-changing services from VLP volunteers. For example, pro bono volunteers have helped veterans fight eviction and stay safely in their homes; obtained expungement of their criminal records allowing them to move on with their lives; restored their driver’s licenses to get back on the road; gained peace of mind by drafting healthcare directives, powers of attorney, and wills; and right-sized child support obligations through modification of child support orders. Clients often received multiple services through the VLP.

“Congratulations to PSE&G, Gibbons, McCarter & English, and VLJ on this well-deserved recognition. Your visionary partnership in launching and sustaining the Veterans Legal Program over the past decade has made a profound difference in the lives of New Jersey’s veterans and has transformed the lives of those who served our country. By addressing critical legal needs with compassion and dedication, you have not only filled a vital gap in services but have also set a remarkable example for pro bono work. This honor celebrates your collective impact,” said PBI President and CEO Eve Runyon.

In addition to donating their time and resources through pro bono volunteering, PSE&G, Gibbons, and McCarter & English provide financial support to VLJ, which bolsters the strength of both the legal services organization and the VLP. The partnership also participated in the 2023 EmPOWERing Pro Bono Day, a day of pro bono legal service for electric and gas utilities that PBI’s Corporate Pro Bono project coordinates.

Thanks to PSE&G, Gibbons P.C., McCarter & English, LLP, and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice for creating and sustaining an impactful initiative, that has evolved for over a decade, to assist New Jersey’s veterans with their civil legal needs.

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About PSE&G 

Public Service Electric & Gas Co. is New Jersey’s oldest and largest gas and electric delivery public utility, as well as one of the nation’s largest utilities. PSE&G is the 2022 Edison Award recipient from the Edison Electric Institute. PSE&G has won the ReliabilityOne® Award for superior electric system reliability in the Mid-Atlantic region for 22 consecutive years. For the second consecutive year, PSE&G is the recipient of the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award in the Energy Efficiency Program Delivery category. In addition, in 2023 J.D. Power named PSE&G number one in customer satisfaction with residential and business electric service in the east among large utilities.

PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), a predominantly regulated infrastructure company founded in 1903 that is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. One of New Jersey’s largest employers, PSEG’s 12,500 employees power the lives of 2.4 million electric customers and 1.9 million natural gas customers in the Garden State. PSEG has long had a key role in fueling New Jersey’s economy and supporting the state’s quality of life. PSEG carries forward a proud tradition of dedicated service that has continued over more than 120 years.

About Gibbons P.C.

With offices in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Florida, Gibbons has been recognized nationally for its work as well as regionally. The New Jersey Law Journal has awarded Gibbons a “Litigation Practice of the Year” designation five times in recent years, in the employment and labor law, class actions, products liability, and commercial litigation categories and with the overall “General Litigation Practice of the Year” honor. The Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey and COMMERCE magazine awarded Gibbons the highest honor in the “Caring for Children” category of their “Companies That Care” Awards program for the firm’s pro bono work representing children with disabilities who have been denied special education services by their school districts. And in 2021, the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association honored the firm with a John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award, which recognizes, among nominated firms nationwide, “those who have made outstanding contributions to the quality of justice in their communities, ensuring that the legal system is open and available to all.” Gibbons has been certified as a great workplace by the independent analysts at the Great Place to Work® organization.

About McCarter & English, LLP

McCarter & English, LLP delivers innovative solutions to clients nationwide. Fortune 100, mid-market, and emerging growth companies rely on McCarter to handle their cutting-edge transactional, intellectual property, and complex litigation matters. Clients benefit from the firm’s relationship-driven approach, deep understanding of their businesses and legal needs, lean and efficient service model, and determination to help them move their businesses forward. McCarter’s award-winning pro bono program is committed to serving those in need and dates back to the firm’s founding nearly 180 years ago. In 2023 we spent more than 3 percent of the firm’s billable hours providing meaningful pro bono services, with the majority of our lawyers taking part. For more information, see www.mccarter.com/firm/pro-bono [mccarter.com].

About Volunteer Lawyers for Justice

Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) is an award-winning, comprehensive nonprofit legal services program based in Newark, New Jersey, with a statewide reach. VLJ’s mission is to ensure access to justice for people experiencing poverty. The Newark-based organization ensures fair access to the legal system through partnerships with corporations and hundreds of volunteer attorneys. In 2023, VLJ’s work impacted over 4,200 people—including 1,644 children—and its volunteer attorneys donated nearly $2 million in free legal services. To learn more, please visit www.vljnj.org.

About Pro Bono Institute

Founded in 1996, Pro Bono Institute (PBI) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization. With an unparalleled depth of knowledge, resources and expertise, PBI is the respected resource for all things pro bono. Through our work with law firms, in-house corporate legal departments, and public interest organizations, PBI is the global thought leader in exploring, identifying, evaluating, catalyzing, and taking to scale new approaches to and resources for the provision of legal services to the poor, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure legal assistance to address critical problems.

The Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) project, launched in 2000, is the initiative of PBI that supports, enhances, and transforms the pro bono efforts of in-house corporate legal departments. Since its inception, the CPBO project has worked with hundreds of legal departments around the globe to strengthen in-house pro bono.