Author: Emil Krawczyk

Anne Gordon (she/her)

Co-Chair, ACS North Carolina Lawyer Chapter

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I learned about the American Constitution Society as a 1L at the University of Michigan Law School, where it seemed like all the cool progressive students were members.  After school, I was lucky enough to become part of the incredible group of leaders running the ACS Bay Area Lawyer Chapter, where I made lifelong friendships and saw a model for how an excellent volunteer board can function – no easy feat!  When I moved to North Carolina, one of the first things I did was look up the local ACS chapter, because I knew that’s where my people would be.

I went to law school to change the world, but haven’t really figured out what that means yet.  So far, I’ve worked with and on behalf of people on California’s death row, advocated for incarcerated women and children on our southern border, and taught law students and lawyers both in the US and internationally.  Currently, I am a Clinical Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where I direct our Externship Program and teach classes like Social Justice Lawyering, a Life Design seminar, and a Movement Lawyering Lab with Law For Black Lives (an organization you should really check out).  I sit on community boards such as the ACLU of North Carolina, and feel strongly about using the law to support movements for social change.

While I would never consider myself an academic, I also write law reviews, op/eds, and articles on issues such as equity, inclusion, bias, teaching pedagogy, and feedback.  I believe that those of us with power and privilege have an obligation to ensure that the spaces we occupy are not only open to diverse voices, but that we create space and opportunity for those voices (and the people attached to them) to thrive.

In my role as a clinical professor, I also want to ensure that students feel empowered to make their careers their own instead of stuffing themselves into a single model of legal practice that they’re told is the most prestigious or remunerative.  Each one of my classes devotes a significant amount of time to looking toward students’ own values and priorities (and yes, even hopes and dreams) to find their own versions of success.

I love ACS because it helps me feel that I can work both inside and outside the system to make change.  The fight against the rightward shift in our country’s judiciary and statehouses (even if not in the actual electorate) is going to take a combination of insiders working the levers of power and outsiders advocating to change what those levers are, and change who gets to be insiders in the first place.  And I’m here for all of it!  Especially in a state like North Carolina, progressives are going to need all the help we can get.

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Joel Dodge (he/him)
Co-Chair, New York Lawyer Chapter

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I grew up in a middle-class family in Syracuse, New York.  I went to a state college and received a partial scholarship to attend law school. As the first lawyer in my family, I helped pay for my education by working at a grocery store.  

My mom is a nurse, and imparted to me the importance of caring for the least well off. My dad was involved in local politics when I was younger, and took me canvassing and to political functions. He shared his liberal values with me, as well as his broader faith in civic engagement and the democratic process to make people’s lives better.  

My parents also emphasized the importance of ideas. That is what made a career in law most appealing to me: the notion that a powerful idea and persuasive argument could advance justice and better people’s lives. While finishing law school, I became interested in the lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, King v. Burwell, which threatened to take away healthcare for millions. I developed with a novel legal argument in defense of the ACA which I published on my personal blog, and then worked with a professor to convert into an amicus brief filed at the Supreme Court. My defense of the ACA was discussed by multiple Supreme Court Justices at oral argument. 

Right after graduation, I started my legal career at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan doing commercial litigation, election law, and significant pro bono work. After almost three years at the firm, I moved into public interest work following the 2016 election. I joined the Center for Reproductive Rights working to ensure access to reproductive healthcare, where I have helped work on legal strategy around two major Supreme Court cases -- June Medical Services v. Russo, and now Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. 

I have also used my legal training to contribute to the world of public policy ideas. I’ve written for a number of publications about public policy (including for ACS), and have served as a policy adviser to several candidates for public office. 

I have also sought to help develop the next generation of legal leaders by teaching a legal practice workshop at Columbia Law School and mentoring law students through ACS. ACS is an invaluable network for thought leadership, mobilization, and community. I especially appreciated ACS as a refuge during the Trump administration where concerned lawyers could connect to mount a defense of American values and institutions. And now, it is a wellspring of ideas for the future of progressive legal and policy thinking, and a forceful voice for a more fair-minded judiciary. I look forward to being part of the ACS family for many years to come, and working side by side with other ACS attorneys to continue the work of achieving our country.  

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Pierce Reed (he/him)
Executive Board, ACS Cincinnati Lawyer Chapter
Former President and Board Member, ACS Columbus Lawyer Chapter

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Some people are called to the law.  Others are not so much called to the law as they are conscripted into it.  For them, it is less of a following and more of a compulsion.

I became a lawyer so that people with AIDS and those that survived them could do things like pick out caskets and funereal flower arrangements and have those choices respected – and enforced by law if need be.  But I also became a lawyer so that sick people could stay employed and housed and cared for in hospitals, so they could protect themselves against the hatred and ignorance of the world even if they couldn’t protect themselves from Kaposi’s sarcoma and pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.  I later found that the same tools could be used to protect a woman’s access to reproductive services, argue against exiling state prisoners to private prisons thousands of miles away, defend a corporation’s interest in its product design and reputation for quality, and help judges find the right words and legal theories to convey their opinions and decisions.

When I did that work in Boston, I never felt alone as a lawyer or as a citizen.  Regardless of where I worked, I had colleagues and mentors that were smart and capable attorneys, and with whom I shared personal and political values.

Then I moved to Ohio.

It was soon after the 2004 elections, and the inauguration of George W. Bush.  I worked for the Ohio Supreme Court, to which justices are elected – elected – to make judicial decisions.  At the time, Ohio was one of the nation’s leading executioners, voting rights were under siege, and political scandals were more common than “go Bucks!” cheers on autumn Saturdays.  I spent most of the next couple of years wondering what the hell I had done with my life.

Even educated people back east still can’t remember if I live in Ohio or Iowa.  (For the record, peeps, it is Ohio - the state that gave you everything from the music you’re listening to the soybeans and Jeni’s ice cream you’re eating to the KitchenAid stand-alone mixer that got your privileged selves through the pandemic.)   But Ohio is a great place if you give it a chance.  And ACS was my medium.

The founding of the Columbus Lawyer Chapter almost 15 years ago was a sign of hope, especially for those of us working in Capitol Square.  Kim Jolson, Mike Meuti, Dan Roth, and Lisa Whittaker, all of whom worked for then-Attorney General Rich Cordray, helped bring the chapter forth.  Kim is now on to the federal bench in Columbus, Mike is one of the most successful lawyers in the state, Dan does amazing work in Oakland, and Lisa navigates the corporate world while continuing to mentor youth and new lawyers.  Subsequent chapter president Kristin Boggs is now a leader in Ohio’s General Assembly, where another early leader, Kathleen Clyde, served and launched her campaign to be our secretary of state. Our Board of Advisors included pioneering advocates like Judge Robert Duncan, Sally Bloomfield, Ben Espy, Yvette McGee Brown, and Kathleen Trafford, who invested not just in the chapter but in its members, including me, who came from all areas of practice – government service, public interest organizations, law firms of all sizes.

The collective work of this progressive posse helped establish one of the most vibrant ACS chapters in the country, one that worked closely with affinity bars and civil rights and liberties organizations to organize and educate, to share celebrations and sorrows.  But more than that, the chapter brought the hope of change to the community.

In a town where everyone and everything is transactional, ACS helped us lead in an honest, smart, and ethical way, and reinforced reaching back to give a hand to the next group of new leaders so that they could win every good fight possible.  Those leaders did just that, not just in Columbus, but from Cincinnati to San Francisco.  Regardless of practice area or employer, the leaders and members of the chapter supported one another and worked for a common good – protecting and expanding the rights of all Ohioans.

Their successes are testaments to their skill and dedication, and to the incredible value of ACS, an organization that continues to bring the hope of change in the places where it is most important to have it, including Ohio.  (And Iowa.)

Pierce Reed is a lawyer with the Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where he directs legislative, policy, and education initiatives.  He previously served as the senior judicial attorney to Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court, career law clerk to retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander Ford of the District of Massachusetts, associate at Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak and Cohen, P.C. in Boston, and as an Echoing Green Foundation graduate fellow.

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Chris Hu (he/him)
Co-Chair of Gala Committee, ACS Bay Area Lawyer Chapter

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I first got involved with ACS as a 1L at Stanford, when I was asked to create a website for one of ACS’s first student conferences. I’m glad that my rudimentary effort seems to have disappeared from the internet—I’m tech-savvy only by the low standards of the legal profession! In the ten years since, my career has taken me in unexpected directions, but ACS has been a constant.

I began my legal career focused on prisoner civil rights, working on cases involving prisoners with disabilities and the First Amendment right to receive books, magazines, and other reading materials in custody. In the past few years I’ve transitioned away from public interest work to general appellate practice. I still get to work on my share of pro bono matters, but I also handle a wide range of appeals involving a breadth of issues from contracts to torts and everything in between.  Right now, I’m particularly excited to be working on a pro bono cert petition challenging a rule that allows judges to sentence defendants based on conduct that the jury did not find proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition, I recently obtained review in the California Supreme Court in a case involving interpretation of a tort immunity statute, and I am currently briefing the merits of that question.

Around the same time I made the transition to a more general practice, I knew I wanted to stay connected to the issues I care about, so I applied to join the board of the Bay Area Lawyer Chapter. After many years of enjoying the chapter’s annual gala as an attendee, I now help organize it as co-chair of our gala committee. Last year, I helped plan our first-ever virtual gala, which featured a keynote discussion with Alicia Garza, Kristen Clarke, and Melissa Murray. My co-chair and I had some doubts about whether we could pull off a virtual gala, but the rest of the board (along with staff at ACS National) pitched in to make it a successful event.  I’ve also been involved in a bit of everything else our Chapter does, from pathways to the bench initiatives to promoting our events on social media.

ACS has always been committed to an inclusive vision of the Constitution, and over the past year, I’ve been especially proud to see racial justice at the forefront of ACS’s programming. I look forward to continuing those conversations at this year’s national convention.

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Amy Larsen (she/her)
Co-President, New York Lawyer Chapter, Next Generation Leader

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As a native of the Bronx, New York, I grew up in an ethnically and economically diverse neighborhood that instilled in me the values of hard work, community, entrepreneurialism, and resilience, especially when confronted by hardship. My mother and grandfather had dreamed of becoming lawyers but didn’t have the means, so they found other ways to achieve their versions of the American dream: my grandfather built a small business out of the ashes of the Great Depression, and my mother earned a Ph.D. to become an international civil servant at the United Nations.

Whenever school was cancelled during my childhood, I accompanied my single mom to work at the UN. Throughout the day, I would meander through the hallways that branched out from her office, mingling with African, Asian, Latino, and European civil servants. Gradually, I came to learn about the key issues of the United Nations: peace and security, development, justice and rule of law, diplomacy, and human rights, and to feel that my life should be devoted to the betterment of others. My early, frequent exposure to diversity and foundational global issues contributed to my passion for understanding and alleviating the deep inequalities that persist in the world today, both at home and abroad.

At Yale, I majored in political science, and worked for women’s political inclusion as the first American hired by a leading women’s rights NGO in Tunisia, conducted public health research in West Africa, published on independent sex trafficking research I conducted in Southeast Asia, and following graduation, served on a Fulbright in South Korea. I then completed a White House internship on then-Vice President Biden’s team devoted to ending violence against women, worked on the U.S. foreign affairs budget while on a human rights fellowship in Congress, helped run part of the 2012 Obama campaign field operation in western Colorado, and served at the State Department’s U.S. Mission to the EU in Brussels where I focused on international trade, sanctions, and speechwriting. While a joint degree student at NYU Law and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, I was elected president of both the Domestic Violence Advocacy Project and ACS.

As the first lawyer in my family, I have been as proud to fight for my own dreams as to advocate for the rights of others, while helping to uphold the core building blocks of our democracy in connection with ACS. In my day job, I work as an attorney on national security, cyber security, and sanctions within the Global Risk + Crisis Management practice at Morrison & Foerster, LLP, and manage pro bono projects related to election security and countering violent extremism online in partnership with leading tech companies. Our Founding Fathers’ intention to create a living Constitution that can adapt to our country’s needs over time relies on citizens doing their part to actualize this envisioned democratic process, in both digital and in-person communities. It continues to be a great honor to take up this vital mandate to serve our country, communities, and fellow citizens as part of the American Constitution Society.

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Rashad Green (he/him)
Former President, ACS Tampa Lawyer Chapter

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As the grandson of Joseph Woodrow Hatchett, who became the first African American appointed to the Florida Supreme Court since reconstruction and the only African American to win statewide election besides President Obama, the importance of participation in the democratic process was instilled in me at an early age. I can recall my mother talking about what it was like to be the daughter of a Florida civil rights icon during the civil rights movement. Those stories, as painful as they are, provided a greater understanding of democracy and all that it encompasses. It encompassed combatting institutionalized oppression and systemic racism, risk of loss of life and disfigurement, attendance at newly desegregated public schools, jail time for peacefully violating discriminatory laws and policies, and navigating discriminatory election practices and voter suppression. My grandfather, when describing what it was like to live during that time, once said, “Whites ruled everything and dared you to step out of line. We just weren’t going to take it anymore. That was the civil rights movement.” Against the backdrop of a rewarding, but also painful, motif of family history, I learned about the life-long struggle that was responsible for my very existence. 

My upbringing cultivated a passion for pursuing equality and justice for all. Shortly after my high school graduation, I enrolled at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. I declared political science my major, hoping to one day attend law school and to learn more about human relationships, societal norms, and its practical application to democracy. Speaking to the importance of engaging in the democratic process, my grandfather once noted that “law[s] shape[] the conduct of human relationships, how we live with other people. But human relationships should be powerful in shaping law.” Beyond immersing myself in the social landscape of college activities, I accepted an internship opportunity at the Executive Office of the Governor’s Office of Adoption and Child Protection. This experience brought me face-to-face with the very real-life consequences of decades of institutionalized racism, discriminatory policies and laws solely designed to shape the conduct of human relationships. The corollary was obvious and personified by the circumstances of the children and families we worked with. Using our understanding of human interaction as a guide during the legislative process may have helped the government avoid playing a role in creating the circumstances those children fell victim to. As you could imagine, this experience fueled my passion and had a profound impact on my views of life and the fragility of the human experience. As an upperclassman, I was invited to attend the Florida Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values, which was hosted by former United States Senator Bill Nelson, and his wife, Grace. Its core mission is to train the next generation of community leaders, challenging them to embrace and apply concepts of humility, reconciliation, purpose, and passion. This experience provided a sense of hope, as it was the first time I had encountered a national leader that understood the power of human relationships and its role in shaping the law. 

Upon graduation from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, I decided to pursue my dream of becoming a lawyer and immediately enrolled in law school. At this point in my life, I became determined to graduate and use my legal education to effect positive change in my community. After my 1L year, I began searching for opportunities that would lead to a legal career path rooted in public service. During my 2L year, the opportunity was presented when I received an offer to serve as a judicial extern to the Honorable Monte C. Richardson, United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Florida. In that role, I worked primarily on immigration and social security appeals, which were forms of the human experience I had not yet encountered, and I enjoyed this work very much. In fact, I continued this work beyond the expiration date of the externship, and, upon graduation, I was awarded pro-bono honors distinction for my achievements and the time I spent working as a judicial extern. I eventually graduated, sat for the bar exam, and began searching for employment. I was very fortunate and humbled to have been offered the opportunity to begin my legal career serving as law clerk to the Honorable Charles R. Wilson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. After completing my clerkship, I joined the Office of the State Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, where I had hoped to serve the public interest for decades to come. While I thoroughly enjoyed working as an Assistant State Attorney, eventually, I decided that my personality, professional skill set, life-passion, and experience was better utilized defending the public interest, rather than prosecuting it. Today, I represent people who have been charged with crimes and those asserting constitutional rights violations against the government.   

All things considered, the last four years have been a glaring example of the importance of meaningfully and intentionally participating in democracy. But even in this shameful, tumultuous moment in our nation’s history, I remain optimistic for the future of America and democracy world-wide. I am hopeful because the United States Constitution vests all power in American citizens to realize and make good on America’s promises. But that power alone is unavailing without the affirmative and collective actions of all Americans working together to exercise and apply their collective power to achieve a more perfect union. Almost one half-century ago, during an interview for The South Magazine, my grandfather, speaking about his hope for the future of America over the next century, said his “dream [was] to see a country still striving to give its people life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Looking back on the progress that has been made in America since, and considering the tremendous stress test our democracy underwent during the last four years—at times bending, but never breaking—I very much see an America still striving to give its people life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am now very much looking forward to teaching my children about democracy and how important it is for them to engage and participate meaningfully. They will know the struggle responsible for their very existence.

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