Tom Fiddler
Tom Fiddler is Chair of the Commercial Litigation Group. His bio is available here.
Why is pro bono service important to you?
Doing pro bono work reminds me of why I became a lawyer. It’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day grind of handling cases and forget that as lawyers we can have positive effects on people’s lives. Pro bono service allows me to help others who may be unable to solve problems without legal assistance.
How did you select an organization to support? What would you want someone to know about the organization?
Earlier this year, I was contacted by a former client and asked to help a young woman whose Social Security disability benefits were wrongfully terminated. With the help of another lawyer, the client’s benefits were restored, but she was still owed a substantial amount for back payments for the period for which her benefits had been denied. When she contacted me, she had been waiting for payment for approximately two and one-half years, and despite multiple attempts by her prior lawyer, her family, and her congressman, she still had not been paid. I was able to get this matter resolved for her in less than two months. It was a great feeling to help someone who could not afford a lawyer and who was being ignored by the system.