One of New Jersey's largest law firms, Lowenstein Sandler PC, has joined the efforts of Merck and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice to help victims of the recession navigate the bankruptcy process.

For the past two years, members of Merck's legal department have volunteered to handle Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings for clients who couldn't afford private attorneys and had turned to VLJ for help. Merck lawyers and administrative staff have thus far helped 42 participants in VLJ's bankruptcy program. Funding to operate the program has been provided by the Merck Company Foundation, and the Foundation plans to fund the effort again next year. And John Todaro, a Merck staff attorney, won the State Bar Association's Pro Bono Award this year for devoting hours of service to designing and operating the project.

At Merck's invitation, Lowenstein Sandler enlisted in October, bringing the skills of lawyers with vast bankruptcy experience and the administrative support of a 255-lawyer firm. They will meet clients, help prepare petitions and shepherd cases to completion at hearings before the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustees.

The goal is to clean up a backlog of 53 existing cases and then expand into work for a growing potential pool of candidates for assistance, says Jordyn Baumgarten, VLJ's Director of Pro Bono Services.

At the outset, five Lowenstein Sandler lawyers will each handle a case, but the firm eventually will commit the time and resources of up to a dozen attorneys.

"We asked for volunteers in the firm and we had more than we dreamed of," says Kenneth Rosen, who leads Lowenstein Sandler's Financial Reorganization & Creditors' Rights Group".

Most of the Merck lawyers in the project are intellectual property attorneys who took the time to learn bankruptcy procedures. "They have done an excellent job", says Lowenstein Sandler bankruptcy partner Mary Seymour. Besides adding more lawyers to the effort, Lowenstein Sandler will apply its knowledge of bankruptcy case administration and help refine the program, Seymour says.