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David Stern was Executive Director of Equal Justice Works, a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC working to create a just society by mobilizing the next generation of lawyers committed to equal justice. He is former president of the Stern Family Fund, a private foundation that supported policy-oriented government and corporate accountability projects.
Stern graduated from Union College in 1982 and the Georgetown University Law Center in 1985. Following law school, he clerked for two federal judges in Baltimore and worked for a public interest law firm before joining Equal Justice Works, then known as the National Association of Public Interest Law (NAPIL). Hired in 1992 to create a postgraduate fellowship program for the organization, Stern became the executive director in 1995.
In the 23 years he has served as head of Equal Justice Works, the organization’s annual budget grow more than fivefold from $2 million to $18 million, and the number of postgraduate fellowships has grown from 20 to more than 300 lawyers who are in the field. [1] Today, Equal Justice Works manages the largest postgraduate fellowship program in the country. [2] Nearly all of the American Bar Association-accredited law schools in the U.S. are members of Equal Justice Works. [3]
In 2006, the Mississippi Center for Justice honored Stern for his leadership in bringing national attention to the legal needs of hurricane survivors and for creating the Katrina Initiative, an Equal Justice Works project that supported the work of 19 lawyers in the Gulf Coast. These attorneys were placed at organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to help the hundreds of thousands of people left without homes, jobs and social services due to the damage from the hurricanes. Stern describes the impact of the project in the 2007 short documentary, Survivors of the Storm. Stern was also recognized in May 2008 as one of the "Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Past 30 Years" by the Legal Times.
Stern has served on the boards of OpenSecrets and the Constitutional Accountability Center, and served on the Advisory Boards of the J. Skelly Wright Fellowship Committee at Yale Law School; the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership and the New Voices Fellowship. Currently, he serves on the board of trustees for the Georgetown Day School.
Stern was recognized as a 'Champion of Change' by the White House in October 2011. [4] The honor is in recognition of his dedication and commitment to closing the justice gap in America and ensure that all have equal access to justice.
The Sterns have supported reform efforts that attack the root causes of societal problems rather than simply attempting to alleviate the symptoms of these problems. [5] As president of the Stern Family Fund — the foundation the family operated until 2007 — David Stern expanded the work of his father, philanthropist and author Philip Stern. [6]
During his tenure as president, the Stern Family Foundation created the Public Interest Pioneer program that provided seed money to social entrepreneurs to launch new nonprofit organizations. Among the pioneers: Ami Dar, founder of Idealist.org; Greg LeRoy, founder of Good Jobs First; Sara Horowitz, founder of Working Today; and Joe Lovett, founder of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment, with over 2,000 students. It frequently receives the most full-time applications of any law school in the United States. Georgetown is considered part of the T14, an unofficial designation in the legal community of the best 14 law schools in the United States.
The Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is a progressive judicial advocacy group in the United States. Founded in 1979 by former president Nan Aron, AFJ monitors federal judicial appointments. AFJ represents a coalition of 100 politically liberal groups that have an interest in the federal judiciary. The Alliance for Justice presents a modern liberal viewpoint on legal issues.
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commonly referred to as the New York City Bar Association, founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization has been headquartered in a landmark building on 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. Today the City Bar has more than 23,000 members. Its current president, Muhammad U. Faridi, began his two-year term in May 2024.
Robert Allen Katzmann was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 1, 2013, to August 31, 2020.
Paul M. Igasaki was the Chair and Chief Judge of the Administrative Review Board at the U.S. Department of Labor. Previously he was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Equal Justice Works, a national organization that advances public interest law through fellowships, loan repayment programs, pro bono programs, conferences and other methods. Prior to joining Equal Justice Works, he was executive director of the Rights Working Group, a unique nationwide coalition of groups and individuals committed to ensuring liberty and justice for all.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a liberal or progressive nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. The Brennan Center advocates for public policy positions including raising the minimum wage, opposing voter ID laws, and calling for public funding of elections. The organization opposed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofit organizations.
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, formerly Texas Rural Legal Aid (TRLA), is a nonprofit agency that specializes in providing free civil legal services to the poor in a 68-county service area. It also operates a migrant farmworker legal assistance program in six southern states and a public defender program in southern rural counties of Texas. Established in 1970, TRLA is the largest legal aid provider in Texas and the second largest in the United States.
Charles Halpern is a lawyer, activist, author, educator, and meditation practitioner. He also served as the founding dean of CUNY School of Law, and as a faculty member of various prominent law schools across the country.
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc. is a non-profit civil rights law firm located in New York City, specializing in the areas of disability rights, access to health care and environmental justice.
Equal Justice Works is a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit organization that focuses on careers in public service for lawyers. Equal Justice Works' stated mission is "to create a just society by mobilizing the next generation of lawyers committed to equal justice."
Legal aid in the United States is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system in the United States. In the US, legal aid provisions are different for criminal law and civil law. Criminal legal aid with legal representation is guaranteed to defendants under criminal prosecution who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Civil legal aid is not guaranteed under federal law, but is provided by a variety of public interest law firms and community legal clinics for free or at reduced cost. Other forms of civil legal aid are available through federally-funded legal services, pro bono lawyers, and private volunteers.
Public Counsel is the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the United States. Initially called the Beverly Hills Bar Association Law Foundation, it was the first bar-sponsored public interest law firm in the United States.
The City University of New York School of Law is a public law school in New York City. It was founded in 1983 as part of the City University of New York. CUNY School of Law was established as a public interest law school with a curriculum focused on integrating clinical teaching methods within traditional legal studies.
Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms, often in the fields of civil rights, civil liberties, religious liberty, human rights, women's rights, consumer rights, environmental protection, and so on.
Judith L. Lichtman is an American attorney specializing in women's rights and an advocate for human and civil rights. Lichtman currently serves as the senior advisor of the National Partnership for Women & Families. She is largely credited with the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
Jonathan A. Rapping is an American criminal defense attorney, founder and president of Gideon's Promise, professor of law at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School, and visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School. Rapping received the MacArthur "Genius" Award in 2014.
The Central Virginia Legal Aid Society (CVLAS) is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal assistance in civil matters to low-income and elderly residents in central Virginia.
Access to justice is a basic principle in rule of law which describes how citizens should have equal access to the justice system and/or other justice services so that they can effectively resolve their justice problems. Without access to justice, people are not able to fully exercise their rights, challenge discrimination, or hold decision-makers accountable for their actions.
Lorraine S. McGowen is an American lawyer. She is the lead restructuring partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in the New York office. McGowen works with financial institutions, lender groups and creditor committees who want to maximize recoveries in complicated bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings and rights controversies. She also works with investors and acquirers of distressed companies. McGowen is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Arlene S. Kanter is an American academic, lawyer and a Bond, Schoeneck & King Distinguished Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law. In 2005, she was named the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence by Syracuse University. She is the founder and director of the Disability Law and Policy Program and director of the Office of International Programs.