Community Support
From neighborhood safety initiatives to consumer protection for vulnerable seniors, Jenner & Block’s community support work addresses the legal needs that shape everyday life.
Co-Managing Partner Randy Mehrberg and Partner Kurt von Moltke discuss the firm’s pro bono work with Commercial Club of Chicago.
Jenner & Block Supports Chicago’s Civic Committee in Advancing Public Safety and Community Investment Across the City
Public safety is one of the most complex challenges facing cities today, and addressing it meaningfully requires more than policy. It requires resources, coordination, and the legal infrastructure to bring ambitious initiatives to life. Over the past year, a Jenner & Block team led by Partner Kurt von Moltke provided approximately 230 hours of legal counsel to the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Commercial Club Foundation, helping to advance a wide-ranging set of public safety and community investment initiatives across the city.
The work touched nearly every dimension of the public safety challenge. The team provided counsel on technology and surveillance programs, advised on workforce and staffing studies for the Chicago Police Department, and helped structure agreements designed to invest in police leadership development through one of the city's leading research institutions. Each matter required careful drafting, negotiation, and coordination across multiple institutional partners. This was precisely the kind of complex, multi-party legal work that transforms a promising idea into something that can be implemented.
This also extended into community violence intervention, an area that recognizes public safety as a community issue as much as a law enforcement one. The team helped structure agreements to fund organizations working directly in the neighborhoods most affected by violence, reflecting a shared belief that lasting public safety requires investment in people and communities, not just systems and institutions.
Additional work included supporting a technology assessment for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, helping establish a data hub to support a citywide hiring initiative, and structuring agreements for a new Digital Forensic Training Center and five new Area Technology Centers. That infrastructure will strengthen the city's capacity to investigate and prosecute crime for years to come, and it exists in part because a team of lawyers committed their time and experience to making it possible.
That commitment is at the heart of what Jenner & Block’s pro bono practice has always been about. Our lawyers understand that legal work, applied in the right places, can move institutions, unlock resources, and create conditions for real and lasting change. The work with the Civic Committee and the Commercial Club Foundation is a powerful example of that principle in action, and a reflection of what it means to invest in the city we call home.
“I don't think you will ever understand how grateful I am of you and your law firm for what you guys did was truly a blessing from God. You guys allowed me to have an amazing senior year that allowed me to grow not only on the mat but in life, showing never take advantage of good opportunities and cherish the things we love.”
A Note from Our Client
Eligibility Restored to Student-Athlete in Time for His Senior Season
Jenner & Block Chicago Office Managing Partner Melissa Root convinced the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) board of directors to reverse an eligibility ruling against a Chicago high school student-athlete wrestler, allowing him to compete in an important regional meet during his senior year and to continue to the state championship finals.
Before transferring to a new school, the student had been ruled ineligible until the end of the previous school year following a minor disciplinary incident. That ruling followed him when the IHSA extended his ineligibility by an entire year, denying him the chance to compete in his senior year and to potentially earn a college scholarship.
Without counsel during a previous hearing and an appeal—after which the IHSA had no provision for re-hearing—the student had limited options, and time was running out before a crucial regional meet.
The student was connected to Jenner & Block through Beat the Streets Chicago, a not-for-profit that encourages youth to become life champions through wrestling and enrichment programs. Jenner & Block Partner Shoba Pillay serves on the Board of the organization. Taking his case pro bono, Melissa wrote the IHSA, outlining why the IHSA should review its previous finding and reverse its decision on the student’s eligibility. She provided background on the student’s character, commitment, and community involvement. Within a week, the IHSA board reconvened in a special meeting, reversing its decision and granting him immediate eligibility. He went on to have a strong final high school season and compete in the state championship finals.
Jenner & Block Helps Secure Settlement for Displaced Tenants
Jenner & Block Special Counsel Carl Wedoff obtained approximately $600,000 in settlement payments on behalf of a group of low-income tenants who were displaced from their homes following a fire in the neighborhood of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, New York.
The landlord had a clear financial incentive to delay repairs, as prolonged displacement would likely pressure tenants to abandon their rent-stabilized leases, enabling re-rental at significantly higher market rates. Carl secured court orders imposing date-certain repair deadlines, which the landlord repeatedly violated. He then negotiated a stipulated order entitling each tenant to per-diem compensation for ongoing displacement, plus legal fees. Ultimately, Carl achieved a full settlement for all tenants, with the firm retaining enforcement rights on the broader judgment should any payment be missed.
Setting the Record Straight for a Mother Who Did Everything Right
When a domestic violence survivor was wrongly found to have created a dangerous environment for her children—despite having taken the correct precautionary measures—Jenner & Block Partner Stephanie Sebor intervened. Stephanie secured an Administrative Law Judge review of an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) indication, which was fully reversed after the judge concluded her client had acted appropriately to protect her children throughout.
Restoring Justice for a Senior Victim of Predatory Door-to-Door Fraud
Jenner & Block represents a senior citizen who fell victim to a predatory door-to-door sales scheme targeting elderly individuals in low-income communities, a scam that has grown into a large-scale operation with far-reaching consequences for vulnerable consumers.
In 2021, a “salesperson” arrived at our client’s door claiming that he needed to “test” her water. Believing he was a government worker, she allowed him inside. He declared her water contaminated and unsafe, then told her she had “qualified for a government program” entitling her to low-cost solar panels and a water filtration system. In reality, he fraudulently enrolled her in a $50,000 loan for the equipment, the solar panels were never installed, and the water heater broke almost immediately after installation. For years, our client, a senior woman on a fixed income, has been forced to boil water simply to bathe.
The con man has since launched a company with a full staff of door-to-door salespeople perpetuating this same scheme at scale, preying on seniors across low-income neighborhoods.
Partner Amy Gallegos and Associates Sasha Peters and Hallie Moor moved quickly to hold all responsible parties accountable. In May 2025, the team filed suit against the salesperson, his employer, and the lender that originated the fraudulent $50,000 loan, asserting claims for fraud, financial elder abuse, and violations of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law, and Financing Law.
Since filing, Amy, Sasha, and Hallie have secured significant early victories — successfully defeating the lender’s motion to compel arbitration, a critical win that keeps the case in court and preserves our client’s right to a public judicial process, and defeating the lender’s demurrer to the complaint. The case is now in the discovery phase, where the team continues to build the factual record needed to pursue full accountability for the harm inflicted on our client and to shed light on the broader network of deceptive businesses that target seniors across the region.
Homeowner Receives Long Overdue Insurance Recovery on Thomas Fire Damage
An elderly homeowner endured mandatory evacuations and suffered significant smoke, soot, and ash damage to her home in Santa Barbara, California as a result of the Thomas Fire in December 2017 and survived the subsequent debris flows on January 9, 2018, that took the lives of 23 other community members. In her words, “the twin disasters were a period of crisis, and my life was turned upside down.”
In pursuing a claim under her homeowner’s insurance policy to recover the insurance proceeds for which she paid valuable premiums, the homeowner experienced a difficult and distressing process and significant delay as a seemingly “endless cycle” of adjusters rotated on and off her claim. She felt she was “facing impossible, insurmountable odds.” The situation changed once Jenner & Block became her pro bono counsel—ultimately recovering nearly an additional $500,000 on her claim. Those additional funds allowed the homeowner to complete necessary and long-awaited remediation and repair work on her home. “These were unachievable results on my own,” said the homeowner. “When I really needed someone, you were there and I want to give you and your firm a five-star review.” Partner Jan Larson led the effort to secure the additional insurance recoveries.
“It is a key moral duty of society to prepare for the next generation of citizens.”
Dr. Carol Homden CBE, CEO of the Coram Group
Giving Children a Voice: Representing Coram at UK COVID-19 Inquiry
Jenner & Block’s London office represented Coram—the first and longest serving children’s charity in the UK—at the UK COVID-19 Inquiry. Jenner’s representation enabled the charity to contribute critical evidence on how pandemic decisions including school closures, lockdowns, and loosened safeguarding regulations affected vulnerable children. The firm supported Coram’s CEO in giving oral testimony at hearings featuring former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Education Secretary Sir Gavin Williamson.
Dr. Carol Homden CBE, CEO of the Coram Group, said in her oral evidence that “it is a key moral duty of society to prepare for the next generation of citizens. And of course, unless we do so, we will reap the consequences.”
Without Jenner & Block’s pro bono representation, Coram would not have been able to participate in the Inquiry. The work is a case study in how specialist legal proficiency can be deployed to give a voice to those whose views may otherwise go unheard.
“This was an important pro bono instruction to which we could contribute our legal skills through providing significant preparatory work for the charity to put its case effectively at the inquiry,” said London Office Managing Partner Christine Braamskamp in an interview with The Law Society Gazette.
Special Counsel Will Jones, Partner Joanna Ludlam, and Associate Joshua Kell led the Jenner & Block team representing Coram. They were supported by Partner Ed Davis, Special Counsel Clare Hennessey, Associates Florence Sandberg and Connor Gray, and Senior Paralegal James Shaw.
Originating as the Foundling Hospital in 1739, Coram is the UK’s oldest children’s charity, working as ‘the Coram Group’ of specialist organisations helping hundreds of thousands of children, young people, families and professionals nationwide. Coram uses its experience of working daily with children and young people to engage with government, local authorities, social workers, teachers and families to help deliver better practice, systems and laws.
Clearing the Way for Clean Energy
When Fornax Energy Limited, a UK startup installing air source heat pumps, was wrongly blocked from a government subsidy by energy regulator Ofgem, the company was forced to halt operations and lost access to critical investment.
After months of unsuccessful challenges with another firm, Fornax turned to Jenner & Block for pro bono help. The London Public Law team assessed the case, developed a litigation strategy, and sent a single letter before action. Ofgem reversed its decision entirely. Fornax resumed installations and regained investor interest. The client credited the team’s ability to balance “aggressive advocacy with commercial pragmatism,” delivering not just a legal win, but a path forward for the business.
Partners Joanna Ludlam, Lucy Blake, and Associate Joshua Kell are members of Jenner & Block’s London Public Law team that represented Fornax.