2025 Equal Justice Conference: Full Schedule

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10:00am EDT

Representing LGBTQ+ Clients and Families in a Changing Legal Landscape

Friday May 16, 2025 10:00am - 11:15am EDT

This session will provide tools to increase cultural competency and ability to serve low-income LGBTQ+ clients in a rapidly changing social and legal climate. The session will cover key developments in the law, as well as important concepts and practice considerations relating to serving LGBTQ+ low-income clients.

Speakers

Simone Chriss

Michelle Garcia

Deputy Director, New Mexico Legal Aid

Michelle Garcia J.D. (she/her/ella) is the Deputy Director of New Mexico Legal Aid. She is a graduate of Loyola University who is admitted to the New Mexico Bar, the Navajo Nation Bar, the State Bar of Louisiana, the Pueblo of Pojoaque and the Federal District Court of New Mexico... Read More →

L Orozco

Friday May 16, 2025 10:00am - 11:15am EDT
Continential 2

Sessions

1:15pm EDT

Building Bridges: Enhancing Pro Bono Impact Through Strategic Partnerships with Experts

Friday May 16, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm EDT

Continential 2

Program Description: This session explores how strategic partnerships among legal services organizations, law firms, companies, and expert consultants enhance legal services. Participants will learn from real-world examples, discuss overcoming barriers, and gain practical tools to forge impactful alliances, ultimately improving access to justice for underserved communities.

Speakers

Lisa Dane

Vice President, Charles River Associates

Lisa Dane Vice President Charles River Associates Ms. Dane is a vice president in the Risk, Investigations & Analytics Practice at Charles River Associates ("CRA"). She has over 25 years of experience conducting white collar investigations for law firms and multi-national businesses... Read More →

Samantha DiDomenico

Director, Stout

Samantha DiDomenico is a Director in Stout’s Transformative Change Consulting group. Samantha has 10 years of experience providing consulting services to for-profit and non-profit clients in a variety of industries. She has expertise in understanding large, complex systems and data... Read More →

Beth Hofmeister

Supervising Attorney, The Legal Aid Society

Beth Hofmeister is a Supervising Attorney in the Pro Bono Practice of The Legal Aid Society, the nation’s oldest and largest social justice law firm. Whether through individual representation, community-directed projects and clinics, or bringing significant civil rights litigation... Read More →

Lesley Johannesen

Senior Staff Attorney, Sanctuary for Families

Lesley Johannsen is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Narkis Golan International Child Abduction Initiative (the “NGI”) at Sanctuary for Families, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence... Read More →

Erin Palmer

Associate Director, Corporate Pro Bono, Pro Bono Institute

Erin Palmer joined PBI in 2024 as the Associate Director of the Corporate Pro Bono project. Previously, Erin served as an ethics lawyer for the federal Judiciary, where she specialized in workplace accountability. She has also worked as a litigation associate at Clifford Chance US... Read More →

Dara Sheinfeld

Counsel, Head of Pro Bono Litigation, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Dara Sheinfeld is Counsel and Head of Pro Bono Litigation at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. In this role, she helps manage the firm’s pro bono practice and supervises many pro bono matters, including federal Hague litigation, custody/visitation, abuse/neglect, child support, family... Read More →

Friday May 16, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm EDT
Continential 2

Sessions

3:00pm EDT

Recent Developments in Racial Justice Litigation Post Students for Fair Admission (SFFA) v. Harvard

Friday May 16, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm EDT

Continential 2

The SCOTUS decision abolishing affirmative action in college admissions profoundly affected racial justice litigation. The SFFA case was cited in legal attacks on Title VI disparate impact regulations, and several programs assisting minority businesses. Learn about these developments, current efforts to invalidate immigration laws due to intentional racial discrimination and the ways in which the decision profoundly affected other laws and programs that foster racial justice.

Speakers

Nicholas Espirity

Deputy Director, Legal, National Immigration Law Center

Nicholas Espíritu is the Deputy Legal Director at the National Immigration Law Center and a graduate of the Critical Race Studies Program. His legal career has included challenges to President Trump’s travel ban targeting immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries and Arizona’s... Read More →

Steven Fischbach

Litigation Director, Virginia Poverty Law Center

Steve Fischbach is the Litigation Director for the Virginia Poverty Law Center, the state support center for all civil Legal Aid programs in Virginia. In that capacity, Steve helps Legal Aid attorneys develop impact litigation cases, particularly in the areas of housing and racial... Read More →

Sophia Hall

Deputy Litigation Director, Lawyers for Civil Rights

Sophia Hall is the Deputy Litigation Director at Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), a non-profit legal organization founded at the request of President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. LCR is one of the largest and oldest organizations in New England... Read More →

Friday May 16, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm EDT
Continential 2

Sessions