The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia is pleased to announce that we will be honoring Abid Riaz Qureshi with the Servant of Justice Award at the 29th Annual Servant of Justice Awards Dinner taking place on April 24th.

Abid is a partner in Latham & Watkins’ Litigation & Trial Department in the Washington, D.C. office. He served as Global Chair of Latham’s Pro Bono Committee for six years and recently completed his term in March 2018. In September 2016, President Obama nominated Abid to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, making him the first Muslim American to be nominated to be a federal judge. Read more →

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 →

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Legal Aid!

Last November, Legal Aid pledged to continue our pursuit of justice for our most vulnerable neighbors in D.C. with renewed vigor and determination. We have indeed made great strides towards making justice real for our clients, but we certainly did not do it alone.

Over the past year, you – our donors, volunteers, and partners – have made a deep impact on our client community. Your support in the courtroom, on legislative issues, and in our fundraising campaigns matters. You have paved the way for us to finish this year with even more determination than when we started it. Read more →

Legal Aid is pleased to announce a new Appellate Advocacy Fellowship and welcome our inaugural fellow, David Carpman, who will join Legal Aid in September 2017. With the support of Sidley Austin LLP, this one-year Fellowship will strengthen Legal Aid’s nationally-recognized Barbara McDowell Appellate Advocacy Project. Read more →

In my remarks at this year’s Servant of Justice Awards Dinner, I highlighted Matthew Desmond’s extraordinary book, “Evicted,” winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction.  I highlighted the importance of Legal Aid’s eviction prevention work and, in particular, our Housing Right to Counsel Project (also known as the Subsidized Housing Representation Project), a city-wide project we are leading but with many, many partners, including the D.C. Access to Justice Commission, Bread for the City, Legal Counsel for the Elderly, the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, and numerous area law firms.  I expressly noted the “Expanding Access to Justice Act of 2017,” which could dramatically increase the number of tenants represented in these cases.    Read more →

Last Tuesday, Legal Aid held its 28th Annual Servant of Justice Awards Dinner. We are so grateful to our dinner co-chairs, host committee, sponsors, and honorees for making it such a memorable evening.

With over 775 guests and more than 40 sponsors, the dinner set a record for both attendance and fundraising this year! The dinner successfully raised over $1.2 million to support Legal Aid’s mission of making justice real for low-income D.C. residents.

Thank you so, so much!

“It is often in times of crisis that we find our strongest voice.”
– Vanita Gupta, 2017 Servant of Justice Awards Honoree
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On Tuesday, April 25, Legal Aid will present our highest honor – the Servant of Justice Award – to Vanita Gupta, incoming President and Chief Executive Officer of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and former head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. This award will be presented by Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Read more →

On Tuesday April 25, Legal Aid will present our highest honor – the Servant of Justice Award – to Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. This award will be presented by Paul M. Smith, Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and Vice-President of Campaign Legal Center. Read more →

The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia is proud to announce that we will be honoring David Young of Ropes & Gray LLP with the Klepper Prize for Volunteer Excellence at this year’s Servant of Justice Awards Dinner taking place on April 25th.
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The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia is proud to announce that we will be honoring Vanita Gupta, formerly the Head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, at this year’s Servant of Justice Awards Dinner taking place on April 25th. Read more →