Lawyering for a cause is difficult work. You must vigorously represent your client’s interests, manage an inherently adversarial process, try to achieve the best results within the boundaries of the law, and juggle endless unpredictable balls in the air. And it’s all the more difficult if you are fighting to advance civil and human rights in the face of too many injustices and inequalities.
I have the great privilege of being a reproductive rights attorney. In that role, I represent healthcare providers, organizations, and patients that advocate for our ability to make basic decisions about our bodies, lives, and futures against those that want to take their rights away. Litigating in this area has certainly been tough over the years. Every legislative session, anti-abortion lawmakers passed ever increasingly cruel restrictions on reproductive healthcare, including abortion bans even as
Stripped on our self-determination and bodily autonomy, the life and liberty of every Americans who can get pregnant is now threatened. Knowing that some people will suffer more than others, because of their race, income, age, gender orientation and identity, language facility, or immigration status, makes it difficult to sleep at night. Especially because my own intersecting identities—now and at various stages of my life—also makes me, members of my family, and others in my community more vulnerable.
Acs Chal Forensic Lawyer Scientist Tyler Flood From Texas
Yet, the privilege I hold (education, position as a lawyer) allows me to play one small part in the fight for healthcare equity and access for all Americans. That goal inspires and drives. As does the community of mentors and mentees, colleagues, advocates, and supportive networks (like ACS) that uplifts and reminds us that lawyering for a more just tomorrow is absolutely worthwhile.
Growing up, I was obsessed with fairness—for myself and for others. Maybe that was mostly because I’m a middle child, but I like to think that drive was deeper and a sign of more profound moral compass. By the time I was finishing high school, that passion became a drive to dedicate my career and my life to civil rights activism. But it wasn’t until a few years into graduate school for sociology, where I studied social movements and social inequality, that I finally realized that so many of the people I admired throughout the history of civil rights activism and whose careers I wanted to emulate were lawyers. So off to law school I went.
In 2010, when I landed a position at the Program Legal Group for the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, I thought to myself, “I have arrived. I am doing what I always wanted.” Working at OCR was the greatest honor of my life and an opportunity to do incredible and impactful work. But as our national politics began to turn in the ramp up to the 2016 election, I realized that I needed to get more involved locally. I managed a friend’s local re-election campaign, which led me to volunteering with a statewide organization in California that seeks to recruit progressive women to the state legislature. I joined the board for California Common Cause. That was also when I applied to join the Bay Area Lawyer Chapter Board for ACS.
Acs Chal Forensic Lawyer Scientist Rene A. Flores From Texas
The network of ACS had already supported me throughout my career, mostly through the friendships I made and sustained by attending National Convention. But through BALC, I have deepened my network and had so many amazing opportunities to put together interesting programming and events. We are a geographically large chapter, with board members from Marin to San Jose, but we strive to be a strong support network nonetheless. Through BALC, I learned about and eventually landed in mid-2018 at the Office of the County Counsel for the County of Santa Clara. I still do civil rights and education work for that office, but I have the opportunity to make a deeper local impact as counsel for our county elections official.
But more importantly, through BALC I have been more connected to ACS National as well. We have sometimes been a bit of a rabble-rousing chapter, pushing the organization to do more and say more about the progressive values we share. Through those efforts, and in partnership with so many across the country, ACS is living into its mission more and more each day. I am energized by ACS’ increasing commitment to racial justice and to leadership in the profession on diversity, equity, and inclusion especially in the judiciary. As a member of ACS’ #MeToo Task Force, I have partnered with leaders across the country to host listening sessions, gather best practices, and plan programming for National Convention to continue to address the problem of sexual harassment in the legal profession. I am excited about all we can do together.
In the end, being obsessed with fairness is just right for a civil rights lawyer and is at the core of ACS as well. We can do so much more together to support the progressive mission of ACS and the promise of a multi-racial, representative democracy.
New York City Acs Lawyer
As I reflected on 2020, I became a lawyer to honor my deep childhood interest in John Grisham's books and the generations of lawyers who preceded me in my family. Like my granduncle, Warren Cox, who helped to desegregate the University of Mississippi School of Law, I understood the existence of my present struggle for racial justice as a fixture within a long, continuous line of resistance. My parents, a Baptist preacher and a public school administrator reinforced this principle as I grew up, and they greatly inspire my present work.
As an undergraduate student at Howard University, I fought against the death penalty in Maryland. As a law student at LSU, I served in clinics that sought to vindicate the rights of incarcerated folks and kids. As a lawyer - across my tenure at organizations like the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Advancement Project, and Texas Appleseed - I strive always to uplift the voices of those most impacted by draconian law & policies as I employ the skills imparted by the profession. These days, such advocacy most often takes the form of testimony before the Texas Legislature and school boards across the state.
Although I might not live to see it, I fight each day for a world where all people, especially Black people, can fully enjoy the abundance of this planet. In this world, people will attend fully-funded public schools, live in expansive affordable housing, access healthcare at any time without cost, build genuine relationships with one another, and observe art wherever they go. As a deacon at Ebenezer III Baptist Church in Austin, I attempt to actualize this future by cultivating the intergenerational community that this body of faith has given me. It is an honor to contribute my efforts toward this vision.
Brooklyn Acs Lawyer Announces Winning 1028 Hearing Law Offices Of Michael Discioarro
I am now a proud member of ACS for the same reasons that the favorite son of Arkansas, Johnny Cash, wore black:
My friend and I hung a shingle directly out of law school and practiced for several years in criminal defense, family law, and probate. I was elected as the small town's city attorney shortly after and thought I'd made it then as a trial lawyer. After several years my wife and I decided that the big time was calling, and we moved to Fort Smith, where I was hired as a state prosecutor, prosecuting sexual abuse, domestic violence, and drug trafficking cases. Almost five years later I caught my big break, joining the Department of Justice as an AUSA. I always took pride in standing up and representing our country for those 9+ years before leaving to work in privacy rights in the tech sector.
However, after 17 years as an attorney in a variety of roles, it was and is undeniable that there are systemic injustices throughout our country:
Acs Chal Forensic Lawyer Scientist
The legal community is in a rare position to ensure that OUR common rights are secure- women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights, and civil rights. Too much has been spent, and too many have suffered to give up now. Until then, I still take inspiration from Mr. Cash, who gave comfort to the marginalized and hell to the powerful. Thanks y'all for all that you do.
I am the son of two Pilipino immigrants, who migrated in the early 1980s. I have learned that being Pilipino anywhere in the world means that your identity is complex. Pilipinos are everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
The Pilipino-American community has some of the warmest and kindest personalities you will ever meet. This is especially the case amongst Pilipino attorneys in America, who are more than willing to go above and beyond to help.
Portraits — Lisa Masson Photography
But we are not seen as leaders of law firms. We are not seen as political leaders in America. It is a fight to ensure that we are not invisible or taken advantage of. Being Pilipino-American and an attorney is therefore a huge privilege and responsibility. But always something to be proud and thankful for. For Pilipino-American Heritage Month, I am grateful to all the Pilipino-American trailblazers that have
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