Read more about how the Law Center’s pro bono partners have helped advance civil, social, and economic rights for marginalized communities in our 2023-24 Pro Bono report, featuring interviews with attorneys advocating for gun safety, strong public schools, and the preservation of valued community institutions.
A letter from our executive director Brent Landau
Dear Supporter,
Before I joined the Public Interest Law Center as Executive Director, I had the privilege of serving as pro bono co-counsel alongside the Law Center’s talented staff, challenging a nuisance auto body shop in Southwest Philadelphia–one of dozens in this working class Black neighborhood–on behalf of the shop’s neighbors, whose daily lives were disrupted by the business’s unsafe, noxious, and illegal activities.
While I was already familiar with the Law Center, my pro bono experience taking on an everyday and widespread injustice provided a first-hand view of how this organization makes a real difference in the lives of people in our communities.
We could not do what we do without close collaboration with pro bono partners in the Philadelphia legal community and beyond. Today, I am excited to share the Public Interest Law Center’s 2023-24 Pro Bono Report with our supporters and friends.
Read the report here. Inside, you will find interviews with attorneys advocating for gun safety, strong public schools, and the preservation of valued community institutions.
Jasmeet Ahuja, of Hogan Lovells, is one of these attorneys. Amid a surge in shootings, her firm joined the Law Center to represent residents who have lost family members to gun violence, the City of Philadelphia, and CeaseFirePA in a challenge to Pennsylvania’s firearm preemption laws. These laws prohibit local governments from implementing even common-sense, evidence-based gun safety measures.
We argue that the Pennsylvania general assembly, by blocking local action to stop gun violence through preemption while refusing to enact statewide measures, violates the state constitutional right to life and liberty for residents of communities that face endemic gun violence. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case, led by Jasmeet, in September 2023.
“I lived in Philadelphia for many years with my young children,” Jasmeet said. “Sadly, I saw firsthand the impact that gun violence has on our city. How the fear of gun violence can put you on edge in even the most mundane of situations– like getting a coffee or visiting the park with your children. It’s unfair, and it need not be this way. Our team brought this case to give a voice to those who have been disproportionately impacted by gun violence and whose voices have been ignored for decades.”
We and our clients deeply appreciate the indispensable service of attorneys like Jasmeet in all of our work. If you are an attorney or firm who would like to collaborate with the Law Center in a future case, learn more here or contact our legal director, Mimi McKenzie, at mmckenzie@pubintlaw.org.
We are so grateful for the contributions that all of our pro bono partners have made, and look forward to further work together as we advance the civil, social, and economic rights of communities in our region facing discrimination, poverty, and inequality. We cannot do it without your help.
Sincerely,
Brent Landau
Executive Director
The Public Interest Law Center
