Heidi Lunasin, Esq.
               Duane Morris LLP                   Member, TVC National Volunteer Corps

In addition to being Women’s History Month, March is also the month we celebrate the second anniversary of the opening of our Women Veterans Legal Advice & Referral Clinic. These two things tie in nicely to our selection for our TVC Volunteer Inspiring Pro Bono (VIP) for the first quarter of 2022.

Duane Morris LLP attorney, Heidi Lunasin, has been a part of the TVC team since we launched our first legal advice and referral clinic in 2017 at the DC VA Medical Center. She has been a regular volunteer and contributed greatly to the success of our clinics. Heidi created a comprehensive resource guide which provided legal and non-legal resources for veterans and their family members in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. area. This critical resource guide is still used by all our volunteers and the resources allow us to support clients with a holistic approach that is essential when supporting communities in need.

Heidi worked with our team and the VA General Counsel’s Office to coordinate and launch the Pro Bono Legal Clinic for Women Veterans in March of 2020. This clinic is exclusively for women veterans and staffed only by female attorneys. Due to the pandemic closures, we were only able to hold one in-person clinic, which Heidi supported. Knowing that we couldn’t lose momentum, we quickly modified the clinic to a virtual format, which has been very successful. Heidi stuck with us through the transition and remains very supportive and willing to give her time to provide pro bono service.

Taking care of veterans and their family members is personal for Heidi. As a military spouse she understands the difficulties that families face and the sacrifices they make when their loved one serves. Her husband served in the Army and retired after 24 years. Her son graduated from the US Air Force Academy and is currently serving in Kuwait with orders to Saudi Arabia.

In addition to being a TVC volunteer, Heidi also gives her time and talent, pro bono, assisting Afghans inside and outside Afghanistan and has filed multiple humanitarian parole applications.

Heidi serves as special Counsel at Duane Morris and practices in the area of intellectual property law representing clients in all areas of patent trademark law. She is a 2008 graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law. She earned an M.S. in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University.

Heidi is truly a volunteer who inspires pro bono. She is always willing to share her outstanding legal talents to support our program. Her passion and commitment, coupled with her first-hand understanding of the challenges that veterans and their families face, makes her an invaluable member of our TVC National Volunteer Corps.

“Volunteering with veterans and their families provides me with the opportunity to help others. As a military family member, I am aware of the unique issues that military members and their families encounter. For most of the military member's career, the family members as well as the military member are in relatively unique positions both legally and culturally.”
Heidi Lunasin, TVC Volunteer