About
Pro Bono and Public Service at Day Pitney
Pro bono work is a priority at Day Pitney. We are proud that our legal skills can benefit and protect individuals and deserving nonprofit organizations in our communities that might otherwise not be able to obtain the high-quality representation we provide. Below, we offer a brief sampling of the types of organizations with which our lawyers have worked and representative matters on which our lawyers have assisted. The list is far from exhaustive. The diversity and sophistication of our pro bono work reflects the breadth and depth of our many practice areas.
Pro Bono Committee
- Lawyers for Children America: We have represented numerous children in difficult domestic situations involving impaired or abusive parents. We have worked with state agencies, handled litigation, monitored custody proceedings, and represented the interests of children in negotiations and hearings with parents and agencies. For this work, a Day Pitney lawyer was recently recognized with an annual pro bono award from the Connecticut Bar Association.
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- Battered Women's Legal Advocacy Project: We founded this joint program in 1992 with the Morris County Bar Association and the New Jersey Battered Women's Service. We continue to administer the project and assign volunteers to represent abused women. Over the years, the project has assisted more than 2,000 victims in their efforts to obtain final restraining orders against their abusers.
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- Child Health Advocacy Partnership: We have partnered with Medical Legal Partnership Boston, the founding site of the national MLP network, since 2005 to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable people by integrating legal assistance as a core component of patient care to address the complex needs of low-income patients. Over the years our lawyers have staffed a clinic at a medical facility servicing a low-income neighborhood and helped numerous patients and their families with housing, immigration, disability, special education and similar issues. For this work, the firm was recognized by the Boston Business Journal as a Corporate Philanthropy Partner of the Year.
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- Pro Bono Partnership: Working with the Pro Bono Partnership, Day Pitney attorneys in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut provide transactional and employment law services to nonprofit organizations serving the disadvantaged or enhancing the quality of life in their communities. For its work, the Pro Bono Partnership recognized Day Pitney as the 2014 Volunteer Law Firm of the Year.
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- Connecticut Veterans Legal Center: We have assisted veterans with applications for veterans benefits, with housing issues and with various other matters, often in partnership with lawyers from one of our clients.
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- Bet Tzedek Project: We have assisted numerous Holocaust survivors with the application process for certain reparations payments.
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- Connecticut Fair Housing Center: We assist victims of housing discrimination with litigation to secure fair housing rights. For this work, Day Pitney lawyers have twice been recognized with pro bono awards from the CFHC.
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- Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation: We have provided legal assistance to deserving social entrepreneurs in poor communities through the foundation. For this work, the firm was recognized with the inaugural Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation Award for North America.
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- American Civil Liberties Union and Other Civil Rights Matters: We provide intake support at the ACLU office in Hartford, and have co-represented a class of inmates at Connecticut''s prison for women to monitor and enforce a consent decree related to appropriate mental healthcare. We have also represented individuals in many other federal civil rights actions including, for example, a current action regarding an inmate''s right to file a prison grievance.
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- Guardianship Proceedings in New Jersey: Day Pitney founded a program in 2012 in which 'the firm's attorneys serve pro bono as court-appointed attorneys for allegedly incapacitated persons in guardianship proceedings. For this service, a Day Pitney attorney was awarded the 2013 Pro Bono Award by the New Jersey State Bar Association.
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- AIDS Connecticut: We counseled AIDS Project Hartford in its merger with the Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition, which created a new provider of HIV/AIDS-related services called AIDS Connecticut.
- Criminal Matters: We have represented numerous indigent criminal defendants in state and federal courts, at trial, and on appeal in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.
Day Pitney also enjoys a long history of, and commitment to, public service in the communities where we live and work. Throughout the past century, our lawyers have served in numerous charitable and civic organizations, seeking to advance a wide range of educational, cultural and humanitarian causes.
We also count among our lawyers and alumni many who have served the public with distinction in various appointed and elected positions, including the state and federal judiciary and a wide range of federal, state and local offices. Our lawyers and alumni have served in roles such as:
- Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
- Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
- Associate Justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court
- United States District Judges
- United States Attorneys
- Governor of Massachusetts
- Mayors of major cities
- State legislators
- Members of numerous state and local boards, commissions, and authorities
A small sampling of the many civic and community organizations, large and small, for which our lawyers serve or have served in leadership positions includes:
- American Conference on Diversity
- American Heart Association
- Charter Oak State College
- Connecticut Legal Services Inc.
- Connecticut State Board of Education
- Council on Accreditation Services for Families and Children
- DanceCompass Inc.
- Family Service Bureau
- Kean University Foundation
- Lawyers for Children America
- Linden Hall School
- March of Dimes
- Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers
- National Conference for Community and Justice
- New Jersey and Morris County Chambers of Commerce
- New Jersey Diabetes Foundation
- New York City Commission to Combat Police Corruption
- Project Children
- Shepherds of Youth Charitable Trust
- Somerset County College
- State of New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education
- United Methodist Church
- Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
- Wethersfield Planning and Zoning Commission
NEWS AND EVENTS
Day Pitney Press Release
On March 13, Day Pitney Boca Raton-based attorneys Jay D. Mussman and Brian E. Thompson received special commendations from the 15th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, The Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association for their pro bono work in 2023.
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Florida-based Counsel Jay D. Mussman received special commendations from the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, the Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association for his pro bono work in the years 2019 and 2020.
Gary S. Betensky and Michael J. Napoleone received special commendations from the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, the Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association for their pro bono work in the year 2019.
Day Pitney's 2021 Coleman Award winners were featured in the New Jersey Law Journal After Hours column, "Day Pitney Honors Attorneys with Pro Bono Awards." The article recognized Palak Sharma, Parsippany-based associate, for her diligent work on multiple pro bono matters and a Jim Crow juries project through the Promise of Justice Initiative.
Day Pitney Press Release
Jay Mussman was profiled in the Pro Bono Spotlight in the DCBA Weekly, the online publication for the Dade County Bar Association.
Day Pitney Press Release
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