Lowenstein Center
for the Public
Interest
Our Mission
From its founding, Lowenstein Sandler has been committed to advancing the public interest and serving communities in need. The Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest embodies this commitment, directing the firm’s strong pro bono program and other forms of civic and philanthropic engagement. Through these efforts, the center addresses significant social problems and offers meaningful assistance to low-income and other marginalized people, along with the organizations that advocate for and support them. This work engages the full range of the firm’s talents and reflects the core values that imbue all the firm’s efforts: to perform work of the highest quality in a manner that maximizes results for our clients and causes.
Resilience
On November 5, 2024, we sat in a conference room with a team of volunteers helping resolve issues identified by voters who called into a nonpartisan voter protection hotline. We received what seemed like endless complaints from voters in Burlington County, NJ, who remained steadfast and stood in line for many hours on a dark and cold night to cast their votes, while hotline field volunteers offered reassurance, up-to-date information, and even pizza and water to help alleviate some of the discomfort and inconvenience experienced by these voters. That story has a somewhat happy ending: armed with our reports from voters, the Attorney General sued and obtained an order extending voting hours in impacted polling places so that as many eligible voters as possible could cast their ballots. This is just one of many examples of resilience that our clients, volunteer lawyers, and pro bono partners exhibit every day.
“Johnny” and “Jane” are two clients for whom we filed petitions seeking clemency under Governor Murphy’s innovative categorical clemency campaign. They each received life sentences for their roles in serious crimes soon after they turned 18—far longer sentences than they would have received under today’s sentencing scheme. Many people in their situation would give up and resign themselves to a lifetime of incarceration. But our clients showed astonishing grit and transformed their lives while in prison. They both obtained bachelor’s degrees with highest honors and, even then, continued their education. They demonstrate that young people can change and that people need not be defined by the worst thing that they have ever done.
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