ABA Journal

Members Who Inspire

71 ABA Journal Members Who Inspire articles.

Passion for Justice: Northwestern law prof fights for juvenile rights armed with research

Julie Biehl, an ABA member since 2006, is known as a straight shooter, whose presence fills a room. “She’s a tiny woman, maybe 5’1”, but she is so fiery and so full of passion and just cares,” says Garien Gatewood, deputy mayor for community safety for the city of Chicago.

Community Veteran Justice Project founder helps vets navigate legal needs

Jodi Galvin retired in 2010, after spending more than 20 years as a prosecutor with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. For more than a decade prior to that, she had been an investigator in the criminal and mental health sections of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office. When thinking about what to do next, Galvin realized she could use her experience to help veterans, a population that mattered a great deal to her.

Joe Bell fights to open cold case records of a 1946 mass lynching

At a 2008 American Bar Association event in Washington, D.C., Joseph Bell Jr., an attorney with a keen interest in discrimination cases, first met author Anthony Pitch, a historian and authority on President Abraham Lincoln. A friendship developed.

Tsion Gurmu calls on personal experience to support Black immigrants

Tsion Gurmu traces her interest in law back to the Buford Highway community in Atlanta, where she grew up among a large number of asylum-seekers from Africa who struggled to navigate the immigration system.

Judge Ernestine Gray created a model court that put New Orleans children and families first

“You are impacting lives in a critical way,” says Judge Ernestine Gray about working in juvenile court. “And if you are talking about children who are growing up, it’s going to help determine where they are in the future. I don’t want to look back and say, ‘If I had done X for this child, maybe they could’ve done great things.’ So in the moment where you are, do the good work.”

Aubrey Coleman is helping bring communities access to high-speed internet and other infrastructure

In January 2021, Aubrey Coleman became a program manager at Microsoft and began working with internet service providers to bring affordable broadband to people living in unserved rural areas across the country. He also partners with community organizations to educate residents on how to obtain federal subsidies to reduce the price of internet access; how to safely navigate the internet; and how to access computers or tablets at lower prices.

After ALS diagnosis, Brian Wallach fights for a cure: ‘This is our closing argument for our lives’

Brian Wallach was preparing for a case in 2017 when he felt a weakness in his left hand. At 36 years old, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois ignored it. He had been on the track and field team at Yale, after all, and he was healthy. Why worry?

Meet 12 ABA members who inspired us in 2022

In this year’s Members Who Inspire series, the ABA Journal featured 12 extraordinary ABA members who go to great lengths to embolden their clients, colleagues and members of the communities around them. Their work includes helping immigrants with tax issues, advocating for individuals living with HIV/AIDS and addressing racial injustice and inequality.

Vietnam vet carries combat skills and a desire to serve others into the courtroom

Randall Kinnard says he learned a lot about pressure, stress and loss during the Vietnam War. But he says he also realized he could transfer those tough lessons to the courtroom. “I elected to focus my practice on injured people and wanting to use those skills I had to help them achieve some fairness back into their life.”

Deborah Ferguson fights to protect ballot initiative process and other rights in Idaho

“I read a quote recently that said we should think hard about what we owe each other as citizens and human beings,” Deborah Ferguson says. “I believe that.”

Lauren Champaign has big goals for BigLaw

In summer 2020, Lauren Champaign and two colleagues proposed to Foley a three-part action plan for addressing racial injustice and inequality. “We took it very seriously and talked about how it felt to be in this moment as African American lawyers and what we wanted to see changed,” Champaign says. “Sometimes people think about organizational change, and that’s something, but with our three-part action plan, we were like, ‘No, we are intelligent, corporate attorneys doing really creative things. Here is a massive problem that has gone on for centuries. We can do more than just internal work.’”

Roula Allouch is leading efforts to stop cyberbullying and discrimination

Roula Allouch thinks about young people in her community whenever her civil rights work starts to feel daunting. “Working with youth helps refocus and recenter me on the reason that we’re doing it all: to make things better for the generation coming after us,” says Allouch. “I don’t want the next generation of Arab-American kids and Muslim youth to be dealing with those same challenges.”

Succession Planning: In retirement, Janet Goelz Hoffman supports nonprofits through pro bono and mentoring

More than 40 years ago, Janet Goelz Hoffman set out to help those who help others, building a sizable client base of nonprofit organizations before retiring as a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman. Now in the next chapter of her career, the veteran public finance attorney continues to prioritize the needs of nonprofits at Katten’s Chicago office as a senior counsel and pro bono counsel. She not only assists these clients with transactional pro bono matters, but she also is mentoring younger attorneys who are also interested in making pro bono part of their practice.

Washington Supreme Court justice shows ‘representation does matter’

G. Helen Whitener brings several different perspectives to her work as a state supreme court justice. She is the first Black woman and fourth immigrant-born justice to sit on the Washington Supreme Court. She is the first Black LGBT judge in the state of Washington. She also identifies as an individual with a disability.

Carrie Cohen opens practice of law to women around the world

Carrie Cohen credits one particular experience for changing the course of her career. She graduated from Cornell University in 1989 and decided to defer law school for a year so she could work as a paralegal at what is now Vladeck, Raskin & Clark in New York City. Learning from trailblazing labor lawyer Judith Vladeck and her daughter, Anne, had a profound impact on Cohen. “They represented unions, and then Mrs. Vladeck had a specialty representing women in employment discrimination, sexual harassment and sort of #MeToo issues before that term ever existed,” Cohen says.

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