The basics:

• Lowenstein Sandler LLP lawyers completed 28,064 pro bono hours in 2025
• Attorneys assisted 776 clients across New Jersey
• Work focused on immigration, housing and civil rights
• Lowenstein surpassed 600,000 lifetime pro bono hours

With one of the strongest pro bono programs in New Jersey, Lowenstein Sandler LLP’s lawyers have logged more than 600,000 hours over the past three decades on such work. In 2025, the Roseland-based firm dedicated 28,064 to pro bono matters on behalf of 776 clients, according to a newly released report.

On average, each lawyer spent 68 hours on such cases, focusing on areas like civil rights & liberties, immigration, housing, criminal justice and social enterprises & nonprofits, according to Lowenstein. That’s higher than the 50 hours annually recommended by the American Bar Association. It also surpasses the 25-35 hours range that surveys show the average lawyer puts toward pro bono each year.

Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest Chair Alexander Shalom and Legal Director Natalie Kraner shared, “Across every area of our work, we see clients under strain—immigrants navigating years of uncertainty, individuals seeking second chances after decades of incarceration, nonprofits working tirelessly with limited resources and increased demands. These cracks are not abstract. They are lived experiences. And while no single lawyer or organization can repair them alone, meaningful progress happens when we work together.”

“Our role, alongside our legal services partners and community collaborators, is to help fill those gaps — bringing skill, creativity, and persistence to moments where the law falls short. Whether through direct representation, impact litigation, policy advocacy, or transactional support for mission driven organizations, our pro bono work is about strengthening what exists and restoring fairness where it has fractured,” they went on.

Case highlights include:

• Securing a federal court ruling restoring deportation protections and work authorization for tens of thousands of vulnerable immigrant youth after the Trump administration’s April 2025 move to end a key humanitarian policy (the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status program).
• Safeguarding voting access by working with nonprofits (Election Protection, ACLU of New Jersey, Disability Rights New Jersey, League of Women Voters of New Jersey, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Prison Legal Advocacy Network) and officials (New Jersey Attorney General’s Office) to ensure voters could cast ballots without obstruction during the 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election.
• Advocating alongside GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and the National Center for LGBTQ Rights for incarcerated transgender individuals facing heightened risk of violence and mistreatment and helping push for policies and legal protections to ensure safer housing and access to appropriate care while in custody.
• Filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court after West Virginia enacted a law barring transgender girls from participating on girls’ school sport teams in an effort to promote more inclusive athletic opportunities for students historically excluded or underserved.
• Getting asylum for a trafficking survivor from Honduras after nearly a decade-long legal battle, helping establish precedent for protecting victims of gender-based violence and gang persecution.
• Helping secure temporary legal status and extensions of stay for immigrants receiving life-saving medical treatment in the U.S.
• Providing legal guidance and training to nonprofits and community organizations, equipping them with “Know Your Rights” resources so they can respond safely and lawfully during increased immigration enforcement actions.
• Developing a legal resource manual in partnership with Legal Services of Northwest New Jersey and Community Hope to assist veterans in navigating benefits, rights and support systems.
• Offering Make-a-Will clinics in an ongoing collaboration with Northeast New Jersey Legal Services to help low-income seniors in need of advance planning documents, such as wills, healthcare directives and guardianship arrangements in familiar, accessible settings, like municipal buildings and senior centers.
• Filing a friend-of-court brief on behalf of Seton Hall Law School Housing Justice Project in a key case that reaffirmed tenants’ rights under a recent law known as the Stack Amendment that allows residents evicted for nonpayment of rent to regain possession by paying the rental debt within three business days of a lockout.
• Continuing to work with Prudential Financial and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice on a New Jersey Supreme Court approved-decade-old initiative of hosting monthly pro bono clinics for tenants facing eviction in Essex County.
• Securing pardons and sentence relief for individuals seeking clemency, as well as working to improve fairness in criminal court proceedings through litigation and advocacy.

Additionally, the firm helped impact-focused clients structure and deploy capital in ways that advance meaningful long-term change. Those clients included:

• The De-Carceration Fund, a venture capital fund in Pennsylvania dedicated to criminal justice reform.
• Emerging Markets Investors Alliance, a New York nonprofit that helps institutional investors promote good governance and sustainable development in emerging markets.
• Refugee Investment Network, a Washington, D.C. impact investing and blended finance collaborative dedicated to creating long-term solutions for people displaced by conflict and crisis.

Lowenstein also supported microbusiness owners and nonprofit organizations by offering critical legal, financial and operational assistance to underresourced entrepreneurs, too. That group included BrightStreet, a Newark firm created to help bring capital and resources to minority business owners, and Rising Tide Capital, a Jersey City pro bono program that expands access to high quality legal services for underserved entrepreneurs.

And the firm dispensed much-needed guidance to nonprofits on data privacy, security and emerging financial technologies so those organizations can protect sensitive information, manage risk and operate safely and lawfully.

‘Fabric of our culture’

When the firm was founded in 1961 by Alan Lowenstein and Dick Sandler, the original partnership agreement stipulated that one of the firm’s fundamental principles was a commitment to community. In the decades that followed, Lowenstein Sandler reinforced that mission by dedicating hundreds of thousands of pro bono hours on matters like challenging racial profiling and spurring child welfare reform.

Seventeen years ago, the firm decided to expand its promise to serve communities in need by creating the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest. Through that entity, Lowenstein Sandler aims to address significant social problems and provide meaningful assistance to low-income and other marginalized people, along with the organizations that advocate for and support them.

The work engages a full range of Lowenstein’s talents and reflects its core value of performing work of the highest quality in a way that maximizes results for clients and causes, the firm said.

In addition to directing Lowenstein’s pro bono program, the Center for Public Interest oversees other forms of civic and philanthropic engagement.

Since the 2009 launch of the Center for Public Interest, Lowenstein Sandler has earned accolades from numerous organizations, including Bloomberg Law, Essex County Bar Association, The Legal Aid Society, New Jersey State Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, New Jersey Business & Industry Association and League of Women Voters of New Jersey for its efforts. Most recently, the Center for Public Interest was named a 2026 NJBIZ Leaders in Law honoree in the pro bono category.

Lowenstein Managing Partner Jonathan Wishnia reflected on the program’s impact, saying, “Pro bono has been woven into the fabric of our culture as a critical component of Alan Lowenstein’s vision for the firm. It is central to who we are as an institution and as individuals.”

Wishnia was named as the firm’s new managing partner earlier this year to succeed longtime leader Gary Wingens. The firm also launched a management committee to focus on practice group management, cross collaboration, recruiting and growth initiatives.

In addition to New Jersey, Lowenstein has offices in New York, Palo Alto, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Wilmington and Washington, D.C. According to NJBIZ Leads & Data Center, it ranks as the No. 1 law firm by number of attorneys in New Jersey.

Along with tripled revenues and quadrupled profits, over the past 25 years Lowenstein has sharpened sector focus; expanded nationally; and strengthened market-leading practices across litigation, corporate, restructuring, regulatory, technology and investment management. And, for the first time in its history, firm revenue exceeded $500 million, reported for 2025.

‘Tangible difference’

Though the Center for Public Interest’s longtime director Catherine Weiss retired in 2024, Shalom and Kraner continue to advance the program’s mission.

Shalom, who came on board two years ago as the center’s chair after more than a decade with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said, “Pro bono work is and will always be at the heart of Lowenstein. In 2025, underrepresented communities needed more help than ever, and our lawyers were ready to use their skills and passion to assist.”

Shalom went on to highlight locally based pro bono work, like clemency matters. “It was particularly significant for me to witness the release of someone who over decades of incarceration had done more than anyone could have imagined or hoped for to transform himself,” he recalled.

Pro bono work is and will always be at the heart of Lowenstein.
– Alexander Shalom, chair, Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest

“Seeing clients receive meaningful second chances through the state’s clemency process was truly gratifying. There are many people for whom continued incarceration no longer advances public safety; we will continue to seek ways to bring them home to their families and communities,” he continued.

Kraner feels some of the most impactful pro bono work last year “centered on protecting people whose rights and safety were at immediate risk.”

“We stepped in to safeguard transgender individuals facing serious harm while incarcerated; and secured critical protections and immigration relief for young people seeking safety and long‑term stability,” the partner said.

“These matters reflect the real, life‑saving impact our work has for individuals. They also demonstrate the vital role pro bono work plays in advancing dignity and access to justice. The particular challenges may change, but we’ll continue taking cases to protect vulnerable populations, as we always have,” she went on.

The particular challenges may change, but we’ll continue taking cases to protect vulnerable populations, as we always have.
– Natalie Kraner, legal director, Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest

Kraner – who is a child of refugees and first-generation college student – has been a senior public interest counsel with the Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest since 2014. She is credited with helping build an award-winning pro bono program at the firm. Kraner also continues her practice as a litigator.

Kraner remarked, “We are so grateful to our pro bono clients for placing their trust in us. During this time when resources for nonprofits are scarce, the persistence of our legal services partners and the generosity of our colleagues across the firm have helped the Center for Public Interest make a tangible difference in many people’s lives.”