Legal Aid announced today that it has reached a settlement, potentially worth over $265,000, for approximately 70 public housing tenants overcharged for rent. The proposed settlement would resolve a federal class action lawsuit Legal Aid filed in November 2015 alleging that the owners and managers of a D.C. public housing development had miscalculated utility allowances to which their tenants are entitled. The settlement, which has been submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, would provide monetary relief to all class members for past rent overcharges and also would reduce tenant rents over the next two years by increasing utility allowance amounts. Read more →

Last week, Legal Aid presented Tim Walsh of Pillsbury, with our Making Justice Real Pro Bono Award.

Legal Aid’s Making Justice Real Pro Bono Award recognizes attorneys who have provided outstanding pro bono service through individual representation and/or leadership in facilitating such representation by their colleagues.
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The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia is pleased to announce that we will be honoring Jahnisa Tate Loadholt with the Klepper Prize for Volunteer Excellence at the 29th Annual Servant of Justice Awards Dinner taking place on April 24th.

Jahnisa is a senior associate with Alston & Bird, and has been handling pro bono cases referred from Legal Aid since she arrived in D.C. in 2015. As Legal Aid board member and Alston & Bird counsel Jon Fee told us: “On her first day in the D.C. office, Jahnisa sought me out and asked for pro bono assignments. And as soon as she completed one, she asked for another.” Read more →