Duane Morris Also Honored with Community Impact Award at The Veterans Consortium’s Pro Bono Mission Partner Awards Reception
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 20, 2023—Duane Morris LLP is proud to share that Intellectual Property partner Christopher J. Tyson received The Veterans Consortium (TVC) Chairman’s Award at the TVC Pro Bono Mission Partner Awards reception in Washington, D.C., on November 15, 2023. The Chairman’s Award recognizes an individual who has significantly impacted the mission of TVC, a leading national 501(c)(3) charity that is committed to providing free legal services to veterans in need to ensure access to justice, equitable discharges and disability benefits for our nation’s defenders and their families. Duane Morris was also honored by TVC with the Community Impact Award, which recognizes the impact of an individual or firm in support of TVC’s legal assistance programs, demonstrating excellence and dedication in service for the unique and emerging legal needs of our military veterans.
Attorneys at Duane Morris have been a part of TVC’s National Volunteer Corps for over 25 years, volunteering with the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Program, and remain deeply immersed in this critically important effort today. The scope of this long-standing TVC-Duane Morris partnership has expanded significantly over the past seven years, in large part due to the leadership and initiative of Tyson and that of Duane Morris partner Valentine A. Brown and special counsel Katharyn Voit, who lead the Pro Bono Program and their close-knit relationship with the attorneys, staff and leadership at TVC.
In honoring Chris personally with its Chairman’s Award, TVC remarked, “We are a better organization because of his selfless devotion to his fellow veterans and the TVC mission.”
At the reception, Chris humbly credited “the full time fighters on the front lines for our nation’s defenders” of TVC, and his office managing partner Patrick D. McPherson and Duane Morris Chairman and CEO Matthew A. Taylor for “not only their own personal service to veterans, but also for setting the example and the expectation that the attorneys in our office and at our firm will serve their fellow citizens of our great country.” Duane Morris has provided more than 31,000 pro bono hours to veterans and military service members in more than 325 matters and legal clinics since the inception of its formal pro bono program in 2006. In 2023 alone, more than 60 attorneys and law clerks at Duane Morris worked on pro bono cases involving veterans.
Chris is a registered patent attorney and practices primarily in the firm’s Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) and intellectual property litigation groups. In his pro bono work, Chris personally represents and mentors other attorneys representing U.S. military veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals of Veterans Claims, Board of Veterans Appeals, Department of Veterans Affairs, branch-specific discharge review boards and branch-specific boards of correction for military records. Chris also serves TVC as a mentor to junior attorneys of TVC’s National Volunteer Corps. Prior to his legal career, Chris served for eight years as a surface warfare officer and nuclear engineering officer in the U.S. Navy.
“When I made the difficult decision to leave the Navy in 2007 to become a lawyer, I vowed to do more for the military out of the Navy than I did in it,” said Chris. “It’s been my honor and privilege to serve alongside TVC for the past 12 years. The fact that suicide is the second leading cause of death for veterans under the age of 45 shows the critical importance of the work we’re doing together. When a veteran receives a rejection from the VA, is refused treatment from the VA due to their discharge, or faces a legal issue that seems insurmountable, a lawyer’s pro bono representation may be the difference between that veteran feeling welcome in a home that may now seem foreign to them, or feeling hopeless and forgotten. Along with my outstanding colleagues at Duane Morris, I’m honored to support TVC in its mission.”
About Duane Morris
Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 900 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries. Duane Morris has been recognized by BTI Consulting as both a client service leader and a highly recommended law firm.
