Young lawyers from New York and New Jersey came together on Saturday, Aug. 9 to draft free wills for U.S. Park Police officers as well as their spouses and domestic partners. With the Statue of Liberty as the backdrop, about 60 officers of all ages took care of a very important matter—their estates—as part of Wills for Heroes, the ABA Young Lawyers Division’s ’07-’08 public service project.

Wills for Heroes is a unique pro bono program created by the Wills for Heroes Foundation, a national organization that provides free wills and other basic estate planning documents to emergency first responders, their spouses and domestic partners. Compelled to make a difference, foundation co-founder Anthony Hayes began the program shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and Saturday’s event marked the first time that Wills for Heroes occurred in New York City.

"This is really a special day for the foundation," said Wills for Heroes co-founder Jeffrey Jacobson. "Right now, I've got a pretty good view of Lower Manhattan, where the World Trade Center used to be. To see that and be here today helping our New York heroes is really an honor."

ABA YLD chair Justin Goldstein said he chose the Wills for Heroes program as the division's public service project after he was approached by Hayes and Jacobson. The YLD has rapidly expanded the reach of Wills for Heroes by partnering with local affiliates, such as the New York and New Jersey young lawyers bar groups.

"When I heard about this, I was really excited," Goldstein said. "It was already a successful program, and it exactly fit what the YLD can do, by working with local affiliates. This has had an extremely positive reception."

To date, Wills for Heroes has assisted more than 8,500 emergency first responders in 13 states. Additional programs are in development in several more including Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut , Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee.