This month Philadelphia VIP recognizes Andy Boczkowski, Senior Counsel, Law Department at GlaxoSmithKline for his outstanding volunteer assistance to VIP clients. Please scroll down to read more about our June 2009 Volunteer of the Month.

Andy Boczkowski has provided excellent service to VIP and its clients. As in-house counsel to GlaxoSmithKline, Andy has met the challenges of serving pro bono clients outside the typical private law firm structure.

In a prior VIP case, Andy worked with his Spanish-speaking client who had paid for an option to purchase a home that was subsequently sold to another without her knowledge. Andy worked with the client to assess whether she could afford to purchase the property, and after the client concluded she could not, he recovered the funds his client had paid for the option to purchase and assisted the client in entering into a new lease to protect her rights.

Co-counseling with another VIP volunteer at Pepper Hamilton LLP, Andy is now representing a client who needs assistance in probating her grandfather’s estate and obtaining title to her property, in the face of a Sheriff’s sale for real estate taxes. In handling these cases, Andy has participated in the monthly pro bono practice group meetings hosted by Pepper Hamilton LLP to more effectively represent his clients.

Andy serves his clients with the utmost respect, diligence, and dedication, not hesitating to tackle issues outside the purview of the initial case referral.

In addition to his case work, Andy provides support to VIP as a member of the VIP Board of Directors. He is committed to expanding the involvement of in-house counsel with VIP and recently arranged for GlaxoSmithKline to host over 100 volunteer attorneys for a mortgage foreclosure training.

Andy’s leadership was crucial to ensuring that VIP was able to effectively train these volunteers to participate in the court’s new Diversion Program. In every service that Andy provides to VIP and its clients, he does so with generosity and a gracious smile that exemplifies a VIP volunteer attorney.

VIP Profile [PDF]