ROSELAND, N.J./December 5, 2011 --- During the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) gala at the Montclair Art Museum – the organization’s 7th Annual "Arts & Eats for Justice Gala," the Essex County Legal Services Foundation (LSF) will recognize Connell Foley Partner Kenneth F. Kunzman with the Douglas S. Eakeley Award. Honorary Gala chairs are Senator Frank Lautenberg and Senator Robert Menendez, and this year's event features gourmet cuisine from top restaurants, a silent auction, and live jazz.

Created in 2007 by LSF, the Douglas S. Eakeley Award recognizes members of New Jersey’s legal community who, throughout their careers, have dedicated themselves to increasing the provision of free legal services to those in need and help under-served individuals address a wide range of concerns. Douglas S. Eakeley, for whom the LSF award is named, is a former Rhodes Scholar and graduate of Yale Law School, who served as First Assistant Attorney General of the State of New Jersey. In 1993 he was appointed by President Clinton to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, which he chaired until April 2003. In 1980, Eakeley became a trustee of Essex-Newark Legal Services Project and helped organize the Legal Services Foundation of Essex County. He chaired New Jersey’s state support center, Legal Services of New Jersey, from 1981 to 1990.

Kunzman has deep roots in the Essex County area, with service as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Scholarship Fund for Inner City Children and Vice President of the Essex Legal Services Foundation. He also serves as Chairman and Trustee of the Corella A. and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation of Princeton, N.J., which provides scholarships for needy students of 26 colleges based upon community service. He is a member of the Knights of Malta and has received a Medal of Service from the Archdiocese of Newark.

With Connell Foley, Kunzman specializes in trusts and estates and corporate transactions. He has been responsible for real estate development projects in the cities of Jersey City and Bayonne which created waterfront properties and the container port, as well as represented various corporate entities in mergers and acquisition contracts, and trials. 

Best Lawyers in America has listed Kunzman for over 10 years in the area of civil litigation; he received the St. Thomas More Medal of Seton Hall University School of Law for his demonstrated integrity in the practice of law. 

In addition, Kunzman is Trustee Emeritus of Caldwell College, former Trustee of St. Peter’s Prep and Co-Chairman Emeritus of Seton Hall University Pirate Blue Fund. He is a 2001 recipient of the St. Peter's Prep "Legends of Prep" Award and a 2000 recipient of the Fordham University Law School Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2004, Kunzman was elected to the Seton Hall University Athletic Hall of Fame. He was named an Honorary Doctor of Human Letters by Waynesburg College in 2005. Kunzman served as Captain in the United States Air Force from 1962-65; he is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Says Kunzman, “I am deeply honored to serve the public, and I humbled to be receiving this recognition.”

Legal Services Foundation of Essex County
Legal Services Foundation of Essex County (LSFEC) was formed in 1982 in response to budget cuts imposed on the Legal Services Corporation. Since that time, it has been raising funds from the private bar and distributing such funds to public interest organizations in the community including Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), the Education Law Center, Essex County Legal Aid, Essex-Newark Legal Services and, since 1999, Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, a program of LSFEC.

The annual event raises critical funds for Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ), to support comprehensive legal services for economically-disadvantaged individuals in N.J. VLJ has grown from 30 volunteer attorneys in Essex County to a state-wide 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation with six staff attorneys and more than 1,500 volunteer attorneys aiding thousands of clients each year, through bankruptcy, family law, special education, and consumer law. The organization also helps low-income Essex County residents with criminal records address the civil legal barriers that serve as obstacles to their successful community reintegration with its Newark Reentry Legal Services (ReLeSe) program. Through direct in-house representation as well as through referrals to volunteer attorneys, ReLeSe assists its clients with driver's license restoration, resolution of long out-standing municipal matters, modification of child support orders, and the expungement of criminal records. Information is available at VLJ's website at http://www.vljnj.org.