Fish & Richardson announces that Jared Smith, an associate in our Southern California office, received San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program’s 2018 Pro Bono Publico award at the organization’s annual Justice for All Celebration on Friday, September 21.
Smith was recognized for donating 269 hours of his services to SDVLP since taking on a pro bono case in September 2016. Through his volunteerism, Smith worked with a pro bono client suffering from multiple chronic health conditions, who had been denied Social Security disability benefits. A patent litigator whose practice focuses on complex issues across a wide range of technologies, Smith learned the intricacies of Social Security law to best serve his client. Ultimately, he helped establish ongoing benefits for his client, as well as back payments that were previously denied.
When accepting the award, Smith called the experience the “most rewarding thing” he’s done in his career as an engineer or as a lawyer.
The Justice for All Celebration also featured special guest Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Director of Retirement Security for the Economic Policy Institute and the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland. Among the many topics Townsend discussed were her thoughts on the legacy of her father, Robert F. Kennedy.
About San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program
For 35 years, San Diego Lawyer Volunteer Lawyer Program has changed the lives of thousands of disadvantaged women, children and men throughout San Diego County. A private, nonprofit organization, SDVLP is the county’s oldest and most comprehensive pro bono legal services program. Annually, SDVLP’s hundreds of volunteers provide more than 20,000 hours of donated time, delivering the equivalent of more than $5 million in legal services, free of charge, to struggling San Diegans.
About Fish & Richardson
Fish & Richardson, a premier global intellectual property law firm, is sought-after and trusted by the world’s most innovative brands and influential technology leaders. Fish offers litigation, prosecution and counseling services for patents, trademarks and copyrights, as well as trade secret counseling and litigation services. Our deep bench of attorneys with first-chair trial experience in every technology makes us the go-to firm for the most technically complex cases. We have an established reputation as a top-tier firm for patent portfolio planning, strategy and prosecution, as well as post-grant proceedings at the PTAB. Established in 1878, and now with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists in the U.S. and Europe, our success is rooted in our creative and inclusive culture, which values the diversity of people, experiences and perspectives. For more information, visit fr.com or follow us at @FishRichardson.