Jennifer Bauer

illinois

Jennifer Bauer is the principal attorney at the Law Office of Jennifer Bauer, which is based in Illinois and focuses on small business concerns and estate planning. Ms. Bauer's pro bono efforts have focused on working as a court-appointed mediator to assist litigants in resolving claims without costly legal bills and preparing estate plans for first responders. She has served on several non-profit boards focusing on community building and school support/funding. Ms. Bauer hopes to make a positive change in education policies to improve school funding and support for special needs students.

Deborah Elsas

wisconsin

Deborah is a retired attorney who practiced in the area of attorney discipline. She has two children, grown young men, three fun dogs and a delightful 18 year old cat. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Most of her legal career was in Denver with the Colorado Supreme Court.

Melanie Gleason

Massachusetts

Melanie Gleason, Esq. is an organizer, public interest attorney, and a certified professional coach. She currently serves as the Pro Bono Involvement Coordinator/Staff Attorney for the PAIR Project in Boston, which provides pro bono representation to asylum seekers.

Prior to joining PAIR, Melanie founded and directed Attorney on the Move, an entirely crowdfunded five-year pro bono project, practicing public interest law in over a dozen sites across the country. As part of this project, she worked for two years representing asylum seekers and responding to the family separation crisis at the border with Mexico. While at the border, she also served as the inaugural Pro Bono Coordinator for Las Americas in El Paso, Texas. Additionally, she is a legal services generalist with a specific focus in medical-legal partnerships and policy advocacy.

Prior to becoming an attorney, she served as an organizer for national progressive organizations, including MoveOn.org, and championed electoral, legislative, and issue-based campaigns.

Bonnie Graves

california

Bonnie is an attorney-advisor with the Federal Transit Administration. She joined U.S. DOT in 2004 and has been with FTA since 2005 in the legislation and regulations division. Her practice areas include legislative analysis and drafting, emergency response, and civil rights, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Prior to law school she had an 18-year career working with adults with disabilities. Bonnie is licensed to practice law in California and the District of Columbia.

Erica Hall

florida

Erica is an M.S. CED, MBA, ARM, with a multi-disciplinary background as a community economic development practitioner, project and program management, community organizer, environmental justice advocate, Board member, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) facilitator/trainer/consultant, and Senior Legal Professional with interests in intersectional environmentalism exploring the connection between sustainability, resiliency, food waste, climate justice, food insecurity, the built form and placemaking, economic resilience, racial, social justice and equity, housing diversity, and affordability. Erica currently serves as the Board Chair and Executive Director of the Florida Food Policy Council (FLFPC), a statewide Food Policy Council whose mission is to create opportunities to collaborate, celebrate, and advance equitable food policies to improve quality of life. Erica Hall is also on the Sierra Club Board of Directors and serves on the Sierra Club Florida Chapter Executive Committee. As a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) facilitator and trainer, Erica is certified in JEDI training for nonprofit staff, board members, and volunteers by the Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence (NICNE) in partnership with United Way of Northwest Illinois (UWNI) and United Way of Rock River Valley (UWRRV). Erica also completed the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate offered by the University of South Florida, Muma College of Business. Erica is a recent graduate of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Natural Resources Leadership Institute (NRLI), a training program that helps professionals find solutions to natural resource issues by building trust and collaboration and is dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences. Currently living in St. Petersburg, FL, Erica stays busy on several projects including creating the Storm Squad, a local community-led and community-based climate resilience street team.

Lisa Hankes

colorado

Lisa is an attorney, licensed in Colorado, New York and New Jersey, and has been practicing law in the areas of trusts & estates, corporate and real estate for over 20 years. She has a BS in International Environmental Studies from Rutgers University, a JD from the University of San Diego and recently obtained a Sustainable Leadership Certificate from Colorado Mountain College. Lisa has spent time volunteering in the environmental and civic space by serving as the Chairperson of the Environmental Commission and as a member of the Planning Board in her former hometown in New Jersey for many years. She is currently serving as Vice President on the Board of Directors of Yampatika, an environmental education nonprofit serving Northwest Colorado. Lisa, her husband Josh and two teenage children relocated to Steamboat Springs, CO from New Jersey several years ago. Since then, Lisa has been committed to giving back and practicing advocacy and activism in her new community and state.

Kat Janssen

georgia

Kat (he/they) is a 1L at Emory University School of Law with an interest in civil rights law. As a lifelong Georgia resident, Kat is passionate about advocating for disabled, queer, and transgender communities within Georgia. They take an intersectional approach to their advocacy and are particularly interested in the intersections between transgender rights and racial justice. They previously served as a Delegation Leader for Spring Lobby Weekend 2024 hosted by the Friends Committee on National Legislation and have lobbied their senators and representative on Capitol Hill in favor of violence interruption and indigenous justice. In addition, Kat lobbied their state senators against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as part of Pride to the Capitol: an event coordinated by 20+ different LGBTQ+ rights organizations in Georgia.

GeDá Jones Herbert

louisiana

GeDá Jones Herbert is a civil rights attorney who specializes in education law and school desegregation. Currently a visiting Clinical Assistant Professor of Law for the Civil Rights and Federal Practice Clinic at Tulane University Law School, GeDá previously served as an attorney at the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund and the Equal Justice Initiative. GeDá was also the inaugural Director of Programming for the Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law. Based in New Orleans, LA, GeDá is actively involved in her local community, and enjoys spending time with her family.

Suni Kartha

illinois

Suni Kartha is a lawyer and community activist who has spent the bulk of her career advocating for equitable policies to support children and families. She served on the Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board from 2013-2021, including as policy committee chair from 2013-2017 and board president from 2017-2020. She is a 2018 McCormick Foundation Executive Fellow in the Erikson Institute’s Early Childhood Leadership Academy and a 2024 Public Voices Fellow on Racial Justice in Early Childhood with the OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute. She received a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif.

Michelle Lebovitz Lamar

New Jersey

Michelle Lebovitz Lamar is both an attorney and professional urban planner licensed in New Jersey, and an attorney licensed in Pennsylvania. She presently serves as Senior Planner/Corporate Counsel to a full service affordable housing company. Michelle previously has held positions as partner with a New Jersey law firm (specializing in land use approvals and appeals), a planner with county/municipal planning departments and a private foundation, and a university researcher. She obtained a BA at Williams College, and a Master of City and Regional Planning, an MA in Political Science, and a JD at Rutgers University where she was an Eagleton Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. Michelle has been a board member of various social service organizations, as well as the Board of Directors for the NJ Bar Association - Land Use Law Section, and a member of the NJ Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts.

Miriam Lyell

California

Miriam was a criminal defense attorney for 33 and a half years, including the last 8 years as the head Public Defender, with the San Joaquin County Public Defender’s Office. She defended thousands of clients and completed over one hundred misdemeanor and felony jury trials.

Blair Moses

Arizona

Although now retired, I was a commercial and civil litigator and labor and employment attorney before moving to the Lawyer Regulation Office at the State Bar of Arizona as a Staff Attorney. Prior to becoming an attorney, I worked in healthcare for nearly thirty years, during which I spent 15 years in laboratories as a Blood Bank Specialist and Laboratory Director and another 15 years in hospital administration. I received my B.S. degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and my Juris Doctor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. I was active in both the recent Arizona abortion access (we won!) and Harris campaigns and serve on the Multicultural Advisory Board of One Community, a nonprofit supporting the LGBTQ+ community. This year, I put together a group of action-oriented people interested in taking action to protect our Constitution, democracy, rights, and community.

Jennifer Njuguna

New Jersey

Jennifer Njuguna is an executive leader, lawyer, and organizational strategist. She is Co-CEO of Common Future, a nonprofit intermediary which invests in Black, indigenous, and other communities to create an equitable economy. Her expertise lies in operations, implementing sustainable and equitable organizational infrastructure, strategy, and promoting racial and social justice. Jennifer is a Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE) and part of the broader Atlantic Institute community of Global Fellows. She has written for the Nonprofit Quarterly, and made appearances in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, MSNBC, The Grio, and other publications. Jennifer began her career as a Litigation Associate at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Meagher, and Flom, LLP. Jennifer is licensed to practice law in New York, she has a J.D. from the New York University School of Law where she was an AnBryce Scholar, and she has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.

Erin O'Reilly

Massachusetts

Erin O’Reilly is a Massachusetts-based attorney with a versatile legal career and a strong commitment to public service. She earned her Juris Doctor from New England Law | Boston and a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College. Currently, Erin serves as a staff attorney for a REIT, specializing in telecommunications transactions.

Deeply committed to immigrant rights, Erin has provided pro bono representation to detained immigrants in asylum and removal defense cases and has assisted with naturalization applications. She also volunteers as a legal observer during elections to support voter rights and election integrity.

Passionate about animal welfare, Erin contributes to a house rabbit rescue. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, cheering on Boston College athletics, and embracing life as a proud “childless cat lady” with her beloved cat, Nuala.

Ana Ortega Villegas

District of Columbia

Ana Ortega Villegas is a passionate advocate and Program Director at Mobile Pathways, where she uses innovative technology and data to help immigration advocates better serve their communities. Ana has led critical efforts to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, including during the implementation of the “Migrant Protection Protocols” and Title 42 expulsions. Ana’s career began at the ABA’s ProBAR Project, providing legal services to unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Natalie Petrucci

Colorado

Natalie Petrucci, she/her/ella, is a supervising deportation defense attorney at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network in Colorado. Through this role, she seeks to educate individuals detained at the Aurora detention facility about their rights and options for release and relief from removal. She also aims to provide empowering case support to individuals fighting their cases pro se. Prior to serving in this role, Natalie was a supervising attorney at Human Rights First where she defended the rights of asylum seekers. Previously, she advocated for policy change at the state and national levels on behalf of marginalized workers and represented unaccompanied immigrant children and asylum seekers. Natalie served in the U.S. Peace Corps in rural Panama and is a graduate of UCLA School of Law. In her free time, she enjoys spending time in her backyard farm and exploring Colorado with her family.

Rachel Roberts

Washington

Rachel Roberts is the founding member of Roberts Law PLLC. Her practice focuses on immigration and estate planning, with a significant pro bono asylum practice. She was previously a contaminated site lawyer in private practice, and before that, a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Natural Resources Section, with a focus on public lands litigation.

Julie Ryan

District of Columbia

Julie Ryan is the co-founder of ImpactGC, PLLC, a Washington D.C.-based transactional law firm focused on advising social and environmental impact-driven businesses and other companies on complex commercial and strategic business transactions, impact investing, cross-border negotiations, debt and equity financing, B Corp certification, regulatory compliance, and general corporate matters.

She is an active member of the Women’s Bar Association of D.C., and currently serves on the board of the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers North American Region, B Local Mid-Atlantic, and on the DEI Committee at Women Owned Law.

In addition to her practice, Julie finds time to pursue her passion for mentoring young lawyers and supporting women and minority-owned businesses. She currently is an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law, is a co-founder of AltaClaro, an innovative experiential online learning platform for lawyers, volunteers with several non-profit organizations, and has published numerous articles, blogs, and presentations.

Peggy Schiller

Florida

Peggy is a retired lawyer who practiced securities defense litigation in New York upon graduating from law school. But she was never passionate about that work, and happily gave it up to raise her two children, both adopted from Russia. She has been fortunate to live in many different places around the US and around the world, and currently resides in a small, very red county on the Florida panhandle. Peggy moved to Atlanta in 2012 and began volunteering for the IRC, teaching English to refugees. She also volunteered for Outcry, an organization that advocated for sensible gun laws and often lobbied the Georgia legislature on their behalf. It was the 2016 election results that ignited her passion for advocating for immigrant/refugee rights. Her father and grandmother were refugees from WWII Austria; thus, she is the granddaughter, daughter, and mother of immigrants! She moved to Florida in 2020, and in 2022, she was recruited by the local Democratic party to run against Matt Gaetz. She understood it would be an uphill battle, but she enjoyed the experience of putting together a team of volunteers, public appearances, etc. She also learned about her limitations; for instance, she is not good at asking friends for money! She has worked and advocated for voter protection since 2008. She is currently the Voter Protection Chairman for her county’s Democratic Party.

Laurel Siegel

Massachusetts

Laurel practiced real estate and business law for 27 years, including serving as managing member of Siegel, Wagner & Swartz, LLC and owner of the Law Offices of Laurel H Siegel, LLC. She has also served on numerous bar association, non-profit, and municipal boards and commissions advocating for housing rights, access to the arts, and other community issues. Laurel currently manages federal grant funds in a municipal planning department to provide assistance to underserved members of the community.

Grant Wacker

Minnesota

Grant’s J.D. is from the Univ. of MN, 1988. He also has an M.A. in philosophy (ethics) from the Univ. of AZ, 1985, and a B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College, 1983.

Grant joined Merrill Private Wealth Management in 2016 where he is a Senior Wealth Planner. Previously, he provided planning to clients at Wells Fargo and Piper Jaffray. He has served a variety of charitable organizations, including Second Harvest Heartland (board and chair), the Minnesota Planned Giving Council (board and treasurer), and the Charities Review Council (program committee).

Paris Walker

North Carolina

Paris Walker is an accomplished healthcare administration professional with over 25 years of experience, including 15 years in leadership roles. Skilled in strategic enrollment planning, financial aid management, and team development, Paris has a proven ability to drive operational success and foster organizational growth. Their commitment to equity and inclusion is exemplified through leadership in DEI initiatives and committee work at Atrium Health.

Currently pursuing a Master of Legal Studies degree at Trinity Law School, Paris combines healthcare expertise with legal knowledge to address complex challenges and create innovative solutions in the healthcare and legal fields.

Stephen Zollman

California

Stephen is the Mayor of Sebastopol, CA, and a dedicated social justice lawyer. He previously served as a San Francisco Public Defender and currently holds various leadership roles, including Co-Chair of the Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council and Advisory Board Member for the Nurse Family Partnership. Additionally, Stephen serves as the Criminal Justice Chair for the Sonoma County NAACP and is a Board Member of Veterans for Peace.