Congratulations to Edward L. Weiner Esq. – winner of the 2020 Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Award for Outstanding Senior Volunteer! Attorney Ed Weiner has combined his love for jazz and justice to raise much-needed revenue for music scholarships at George Mason University and for and supporting civil legal aid. Ed, who previously served as the past president of the Virginia State Bar and Fairfax Bar and presides over a highly successful annual Law Day event entitled “Weiner Roasts,” developed a special concert event and formed a nonprofit, Jazz4Justice, which has been replicated both within Virginia and across the country. Through Ed’s events alone, more than $500,000 has been raised for music scholarships, and an additional $500,000 to support legal aid reaching tens of thousands of low-income Virginians facing life-altering civil legal issues like domestic violence protective orders, custody disputes, fighting illegal evictions and preventing unlawful foreclosures or denials of benefits to which they are entitled.
A high-powered litigator, Ed could have just donated money to various charities, but instead he took his passion for jazz and helping others to form the Jazz4Justic nonprofit. He volunteered for thousands of hours, set up a 501 c 3 nonprofit, wrangled sponsors, sold tickets, spearheaded the logo design, and even crafted a “J4J in a box” which allowed others to replicate the successful model. The other programs replicating his model included one at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg which raised more than $80,000 in the six years of that event. And Ed doesn’t just hand over the model to other organizations, but he delights in the success of each spin-off Jazz4Justice event, devoting hundreds of hours each year to make sure the event are successes.
Ed has also taken on many other volunteer endeavors, both with his professional peers in the legal world and in his local community. He does this all while sustaining a vigorous calendar of litigation on behalf of his clients, and showing a father’s and husband’s pride in the accomplishments of his wife and daughters. Ed Weiner is a shining example of a senior citizen who is a vibrant, passionate professional, at the peak of his abilities, not slowing down as some would expect, but instead as an indefatigable champion of Jazz and Justice For All.