2025 Equal Justice Conference: Full Schedule

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2:45pm EDT

Utility Debt: Its Impact on Low-Income Communities and Strategies for Challenging and Reforming Predatory Practices

Thursday May 15, 2025 2:45pm - 4:00pm EDT

Using case studies from three different states, the panel will provide an overview of how utility debt—especially water, sewage, and trash debt—impacts low-income people, share legal strategies to challenge that debt, and provide examples of affordability programs that have helped reduce racial inequities in access to safe and affordable utilities.

Speakers

Robert Ballenger

Senior Attorney, Community Legal Services, Inc.

Robert W. Ballenger is a Senior Attorney at Community Legal Services, Inc. (CLS) located in Philadelphia. He provides direct representation to low-income Philadelphians regarding utility consumer rights with the goal of restoring and maintaining essential utility services at affordable... Read More →

Jenifer Bosco

Senior Attorney, National Consumer Law Center

Jenifer Bosco is a Senior Attorney at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), focusing on energy and utility issues that affect low-income consumers, and medical debt collection issues. Leading NCLC’s energy work, Jenifer has advocated for low-income consumers in several states... Read More →

Ellen Degnan

Senior Staff Attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center

Ellen Degnan is a senior staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), based in Montgomery, Alabama. She joined SPLC in 2018 and works on cases relating to the criminalization of poverty, homelessness, and Black land loss. Ellen graduated with a BA in economics from Yale... Read More →

Sylvia Orduno

Thursday May 15, 2025 2:45pm - 4:00pm EDT
Union Square 15 & 16

Sessions

4:15pm EDT

Going For It—Starting a Pro Se Self-Help Center with Resources You Already Have

Thursday May 15, 2025 4:15pm - 5:30pm EDT

Union Square 15 & 16

Starting a pro se self-help center sounds daunting—but it doesn’t have to be. In this session, we will share the story of how our program started a pro se self-help center using our existing staff and funding, and give participants the tools to start their own center.

Speakers

Kellye Fleming

Paralegal, Legal Services of Southern Missouri

Kellye Fleming is a paralegal at Legal Services of Southern Missouri. Kellye began her career with LSSM in February 2016 and just celebrated her 9th anniversary there. Kellye has twenty years of experience being a paralegal working in a variety of matters from personal injury, traffic... Read More →

Amanda Pearl

Regional Director, Legal Services of Southern Missouri

Amanda M. Pearl is Regional Director of Legal Services of Southern Missouri (LSSM), which is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, and serves a 43-county area across the southern portion of the state. Amanda began her career with LSSM as a staff attorney with the program’s juvenile... Read More →

Meghan Wheeler

Staff Attorney, Legal Services of Southern Missouri

Meghan Wheeler is a staff attorney for Legal Services of Southern Missouri in Springfield, Missouri. She began working for Legal Services as a law student in 2020. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2022 with an emphasis in Child and Family... Read More →

Thursday May 15, 2025 4:15pm - 5:30pm EDT
Union Square 15 & 16

Sessions