SDVLP Honors San Diego Attorneys

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.