By Brooke Lierman, an attorney at the civil rights firm, Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP in Baltimore, Md. Ms. Lierman is on the Executive Committee of the Maryland Lawyer Chapter of ACS.
The White House recently added to its growing list of Champions of Change, a group of 16 individuals working, in the words of Attorney General Eric Holder, “to address and to overcome our most pressing legal challenges and to live up to our nation’s highest ideals.” 
The event, last week, was the latest in a series sponsored by the White House Office of Public Engagement (OPE), which seeks (in the words of the Office’s director Jon Carson) to shine a spotlight on the good work that Americans are doing every day in their communities.
This event was organized jointly by OPE and the Department of Justice Access to Justice Initiative, an office created by Attorney General Holder (pictured) to ensure that basic legal services are available and accessible to everyone in the country.
Attorney General Holder offered some prepared remarks discussing the important work that the honorees perform in their communities. The 16 individuals, listed below, represented all spheres of the legal community – from professors to directors of legal services programs to general counsel of a major corporation. The White House and Department of Justice honored them and invited them to participate in roundtable discussions about the challenges facing today’s legal system.
In addition to the crowd that attended the event, more than 120 law schools sponsored live-streaming of the event. Students and professors submitted questions for the event, which were posed to the honorees as part of the roundtable discussions.
After presenting his opening remarks, Attorney General Holder moderated the first roundtable discussion with half of the Champions. Responding to a question about how law schools could increase their public interest programs, Deb Ellis of NYU said they need to “make their priorities match their platitudes and really put resources behind pro bono and public interest programs.” She added that students should be given “direct personal exposure for what passes for justice among the have-nots ….”
Mark Childress, Senior Counselor of the Access to Justice Initiative, moderated the second panel, which included the NYU honorees, the director of MALDEF, the director of the Brownsville Community Health Center and others. Childress launched the discussion by posing the question, “If you had one wish, and you could use it to eliminate a barrier for justice, what would it be?” Brad Smith of Microsoft said the answer was simple – “everyone should have a lawyer,” and others echoed his remark, while adding their own spin.
All the events and Champions can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/champions, and this event can be viewed online.
The 16 Legal Champions of Change are:
Laura Abel, acting director of the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law
Todd Belcore, Equal Justice Works at the Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law in Chicago
Martha Bergmark, founding president and chief executive officer of the Mississippi Center for Justice
Deb Ellis, director of New York University School of Law’s Public Interest Law Center
Paula Gómez, executive director of the Brownsville Community Health Center
David Hall, executive director of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
Nan Heald, executive director of Pine Tree Legal Assistance
Lillian Johnson, executive director of Community Legal Services, in Arizona
Addison Parker, co-litigation director of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky Inc.
Michael Pinard, director of the Clinical Law Program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Deborah Rhode, Stanford Law School professor and director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession
Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel and executive vice president
David Stern, executive director of Equal Justice Works in Washington
Jo-Ann Wallace, president and CEO of the Washington-based National Legal Aid & Defender Association
Ron Whitener, director of the Tribal Court Public Defense Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law
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