Gibbons Joins New Pro Bono Initiative to Help Small Businesses Impacted by COVID-19

Jill Johnson, IFEL CEO.

Gibbons, led by the Gibbons Diversity Initiative and the Gibbons Cares pro bono program, announced a partnership with the "Small Businesses Need Us" program, which was recently launched by the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL) to assist women and minority small business owners impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with such issues as restricted operations, interruptions in supply chains, and decreased sales and profits. Jill Johnson, IFEL CEO, said in a statement, "While financial capital is critical in this crisis, small business owners also have to steady the ship and consider new destinations. We are calling on business professionals to volunteer their expertise and skills to help small business owners address immediate needs, create pivot strategies, and develop a plan to operate in a social distancing environment. It's time for us to get off the sidelines and get in the game to help save small businesses." Through the initiative, volunteers with various specialties required for day-to-day business operations, including legal service providers, are organized into cross-functional teams and matched with participating small businesses based on those organizations' specific needs. All work is done remotely via phone and video conferencing. Volunteers can choose to work on defined projects, donate a set number of hours across projects, answer questions online, or offer in-kind products or services. "Through our pro bono service, our goal is to help keep these businesses open and save the jobs that they create for the people in Newark and other New Jersey communities," said Mary Frances Palisano, chair of the Gibbons pro bono committee and the firm's pro bono coordinator, in a statement by the firm.  Robert Johnson, the firm's chief diversity officer, added that the firm's diversity initiative "has been, for 13 years, a platform for policies and programming to achieve, maintain, and expand diversity not only at Gibbons but throughout the legal and business communities. Our partnership with Small Businesses Need Us is a new and exciting way for GDI to realize its vision." IFEL, founded in 2002, is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports economic development through entrepreneurship.

Ramsay-Lowe Elected to Executive Committee of State Bar's Workers' Comp Section

Rachel A. Ramsay-Lowe

Rachel A. Ramsay-Lowe, a partner in the Roseland office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, has been elected to the executive committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association's Workers' Compensation Section. She was sworn in on June 18 in a virtual ceremony, and will serve a three-year term. Ramsay-Lowe joined Marshall Dennehey in 2014 and defends insured entities such as national department stores, retail chains and various other small employers in matters relating to workers' compensation in New Jersey. Her legal career began at a plaintiffs firm, where she handled hundreds of cases representing petitioners in workers' compensation claims, according to the announcement. She is a member of the Justice James H. Coleman Jr. New Jersey Workers' Compensation American Inn of Court, and the New York Bar Association. In 2018, she was selected to the "40 Under 40" class of The Network Journal, an honor given to Black young women and men under the age of 40 whose professional accomplishments have significantly impacted an industry or profession. Ramsay-Lowe is a graduate of Stetson University and the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. She is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York.