Author: Emil Krawczyk

Jayla Wilkerson (she/her)
Co-Chair, ACS Dallas Lawyer Chapter

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As a transgender woman in Texas, I know firsthand about marginalized communities.  As a highly educated, employed, articulate, able-bodied, white woman, I also know firsthand about privilege.  I am very lucky, privileged, and blessed.  Not all people in this country are.  That is why I like to use my position of privilege to help others where I can. 

At 32 years old, I became the first in my family to graduate college.  I then went on to Penn Law, where I participated in ACS and many other organizations and was an executive editor on the Journal of Constitutional Law.  Among the great aspects of Penn Law are a passion for public interest legal work and a dedication to cross-disciplinary education.  Both shaped my career trajectory immeasurably.  I have spent all my career so far in government – city, county, state, and now federal – doing public interest work.  Government jobs do not allow for things like pro-bono cases, so I pursue other avenues of helping others outside of the office.   

I began working for social justice causes after the election of our current White House resident.  Among other things, I founded Transgender Pride of Dallas, I serve as secretary of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, I served as Co-Chair for the Equal Justice Committee of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, and I serve as co-chair for the Dallas Lawyer Chapter of this marvelous organization, the American Constitution Society.  I am engaged in speaking events whenever possible, and I teach new recruits of the Dallas Police Department about communicating with the transgender community.  Last year, I was honored to be recognized by the Dallas LGBT Bar Association as the inaugural recipient of its Justice Award for some of this work.   

I do what I can with the tools that I have to make this world a little safer for members of marginalized communities.  If you are reading this, chances are that you do also.  Thank you for your service to your communities. 

ACS is a great organization doing very important work in our law schools and in our nation.  Keep up the good work, everyone.  Together, we can make a difference.  Together, we can build a society which puts people over profits and recognizes and celebrates the common humanity we all share. 

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Harsh Voruganti (he/him)
President, ACS Washington, DC Lawyer Chapter

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The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land.  I don’t remember when I first heard those words, but I remember when they became ingrained in my head: as I underwent the naturalization process to become an American.  On that day in 2008, as I took the oath to become an American citizen, an 84-year-old grandfather to my left, the impact of the law really hit me.  Namely, I wouldn’t be standing there if the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 hadn’t reversed race-based restrictions on naturalization.  Even more generally, I wouldn’t be standing there if civil rights activists, protected by the First Amendment, hadn’t rallied and fought and starved to create a more equal society.  I certainly wouldn’t have been standing there without the right to speak, to think, and to worship in accordance with my beliefs, all protected by the U.S. Constitution.  As I swore my oath that day, I knew that I needed to do my part to preserve the law for future generations. I knew that I needed to go to law school.

Since I started at the George Washington University Law School in 2009, I’ve had a lot of different positions in the legal field.  From my first legal internship at the National Whistleblower Center to my current role as a state prosecutor, I’ve explored the gamut of the law.  And yet, through all of it, my most consistent affiliation has been with ACS.

I first learned about ACS before law school, when I was seeking a liberal alternative to the Federalist Society.  A quick Wikipedia search led me to ACS, and I resolved myself to immediately join the ACS Chapter once I started law school.  Sure enough, arriving at GW Law for orientation, I made my way to the ACS Chapter table.  Three years later, I was graduating law school having led the Chapter as President.  Not content to leave, I promptly joined the Board of the Washington, DC Lawyer Chapter.  Today, eight years later, I’m still on the Board, this time, as the President.

My interest in ACS is largely a function of two factors: the work; and the people.  It’s hard to undersell the programming and commitment put on by ACS National, as well as chapters across the country.  Take, for example, our Constitution in the Classroom program (“CITC”).  Each spring and fall, hundreds of lawyers across the country meet with students in the public school system to talk about the Constitution.  After all, no government can thrive without having a well-educated and civic-minded citizenry.  Additionally, each passing year of ACS membership draws you closer to fellow members and supporters, with annual Conventions becoming family get-togethers, a chance to cheer each other on as we seek to change the world for the better.

For my part, I remind myself that it all comes back down to the rule of law.  As I write, as I blog, as I tweet, as I worship, as I teach, and as I petition, I recognize that these rights, alongside my presence in the country, are possible only because of the Constitution and the rule of law.  As the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, it is incumbent on all of us to preserve and uphold it.  I’m thrilled to be part of an organization that recognizes this challenge.

Harsh Voruganti is an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney with the City of Alexandria. He previously practiced criminal defense and civil rights law in private practice at the Voruganti Law Firm, PLLC., worked on minority religious rights at the Hindu American Foundation, and litigated as a Fellow at the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.  Harsh also blogs on judicial nominations at The Vetting Room and tweets at @VettingRoom.  

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Jeff Mandell (he/him)
President, ACS Madison Lawyer Chapter

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Before I went to law school, I spent three years engaged in progressive advocacy work in Washington, DC—divided between the final stretch of the Clinton Administration and the beginning of the Bush Administration. I chose the University of Chicago Law School because I wanted to meet conservative thinkers. But I also worried that I wouldn’t find progressive fellow travelers. That’s why I was so excited when the New York Times reported on the creation of a new, progressive counterbalance to the Federalist Society.

ACS was a vital outlet for me during law school. I met other students who shared my interests and my values. I got exposure to speakers who inspired me and broadened my sense of what lawyers can do. And I networked with professionals across Chicago (through the Chicago Lawyer Chapter) and around the country (at National Convention).

Five years ago—almost a decade after law school—my family relocated to Madison, Wisconsin. One of the things that drew us to Madison was that it was an opportunity to raise our kids in a community that shared our values. Madison is a vibrant place, with a strong progressive ethos and an active local bar association (as well as many, many bars—it is Wisconsin after all). So, imagine my surprise to find that Madison had no ACS Lawyer Chapter.

In October 2016, we launched our local chapter by hosting Senator Tammy Baldwin to decry the Senate’s refusal to consider Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The event drew more than 125 people, and our chapter hasn’t looked back. Over the 40 months since, we’ve held more than 50 subsequent events. We’ve featured locally famous speakers and brought nationally prominent thinkers to Madison, co-hosted ACS’s inaugural National Lawyer Convening, and sent several Madisonians to each of the last few National Conventions. We’ve twice hosted debates among candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. We’ve invigorated progressive legal conversation and helped spread new ideas in Madison and across Wisconsin. On top of that, we’ve made connections, helped build a new progressive pipeline into public service, and inspired new impact litigation.

I could not be prouder of the community of lawyers ACS has helped build in Madison. And I could not be more grateful for the myriad ways ACS has enhanced my legal education, my professional network, and my career. There is no question that my ACS experiences have helped me expand my practice beyond commercial litigation and appeals into efforts to enforce state and federal constitutional rights, safeguard fair elections, and resist partisan power grabs that threaten our democracy.

Jeff Mandell is the founding president of the ACS Madison Lawyer Chapter. He is a partner at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, where he co-chairs the litigation and the appellate practice groups.

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Conchita Cruz (she/her)
ACS Next Generation Leader; Member, ACS New York Lawyer Chapter; Former Co-President, Yale Law School ACS Chapter 

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I was born and raised in Miami, Florida. My mother is a Cuban refugee who came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor. My father came to the United States as a teenager from Guatemala and was undocumented for many years. Throughout my childhood, my parents helped relatives and friends upon arriving in the United States– giving them a place to live, orienting them about where to get work, and how to seek out the American dream.  

As I grew up, the challenges that our family and friends faced changed. They became focused on immigration issues and status. That’s why I became a community organizer in college and focused on organizing in immigrant communities to push for immigration reform. When immigration reform failed in 2007, I began to work on political campaigns to elect the kind of leaders who would stand up for my community.  

I worked on political campaigns for progressive local, state, and federal candidates in Florida, New Mexico, and New York. I worked on immigration and immigrants’ rights issues as a Legislative Assistant and Deputy Chief of Staff to then U.S. Congressman Jared Polis, and as the Chief of Staff for New York Senator Gustavo Rivera. But after working in government and advocacy for many years, I decided to become an attorney and be able to provide legal assistance directly to those most in need. 

I joined Yale Law School’s ACS Chapter my first year in law school. The organization brought speakers to campus who inspired me and reminded me why I had gone back to school to be an attorney. I served on the board of Yale’s ACS chapter, including a term as Co-President. While in law school, I co-founded the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) and am now the Co-Executive Director of the organization. ASAP provides community support and emergency legal aid to asylum seekers seeking safe haven in the United States regardless of where they are located. We have worked with asylum-seeking families in over 40 states and are now serving families forced to live in camps on the Mexican side of the Mexico-U.S. border.  

ACS was supportive of my work as a law student and Next Generation Leader, and continues to support me in my role at ASAP especially as we are working with clients to hold the government accountable for mistreatment in immigration detention, including the trauma of family separation, through litigation, media and policy. 

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April Dawson (she/her)
ACS Faculty Advisor, North Carolina Central University School of Law

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When I was in law school from 1991-1994, ACS, which was founded in 2001, did not yet exist. My introduction to the still-nascent organization came after I began teaching law full time in 2006. However, I did not become a member of ACS until 2016, when I was asked by students to be the faculty advisor for the recently formed NCCU Law ACS Student Chapter.

When the students asked me to be their faculty advisor, I was not entirely sure I had the capacity. I was already advising two other student organizations, and in addition to having a full teaching load and working on scholarship, I was heavily involved in school- and community-related service activities. However, after learning more about ACS, I knew I wanted to be a part of the organization, and more importantly, support the students in their efforts to become involved in the progressive justice issues being addressed by ACS.

So, what specifically convinced me to add to my already full plate?

First, the mission of ACS aligned with my reasons for becoming a lawyer and my perspective as an academic. I decided to go to law school because I was deeply concerned about injustices in our society. And as a professor, I remind my students often that lawyers are public servants and have a responsibility to make our society more just and equitable. One of ACS’s primary purposes is to ensure “that law is a force for protecting our democracy and the public interest and for improving people’s lives.” That purpose resonated with me on many levels, and I was eager to engage with other like-minded lawyers and advocates.

Second, I was impressed with ACS’s commitment to providing support and resources to students. In addition to providing students with forums to discuss and learn about progressive issues, ACS helps students grow professional networks, which will benefit them throughout their law school and legal careers.

Finally, I was impressed with the information ACS provides to the legal community and the public at large on some of the most pressing issues of the day. ACS has been a valuable resource for me as an educator. This year I taught or am teaching Con Law, Voting Rights, Admin Law, and a Supreme Court Seminar. ACS provides me with additional information regarding current issues that have helped and is helping inform class discussions. My involvement with ACS has also facilitated school-wide engagement. For example, as a result of discussions with other ACS faculty advisors and support from ACS, I spearheaded the effort at NCCU Law to cancel classes on election day so students and faculty can serve as election day volunteers and be directly involved in serving the community as citizens exercise one of their most fundamental and vital rights – the right to vote.

I have never regretted my decision to become involved in ACS. Not only have the resources been invaluable, but the people I have met – ACS staffers, other ACS faculty advisors, and ACS lawyer chapter members – have all exhibited genuine warmth and have been supportive and encouraging. And I am honored to be the faculty advisor for the dedicated members of the NCCU Law ACS Student Chapter. The students are committed to doing their part to ensure our society moves towards justice and equality for all. I am impressed with and inspired by them and optimistic about our future because of them.

April Dawson is a professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law. April graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1994 and practiced in Washington, D.C. With her growing family, April relocated to North Carolina in 1999 to start a private firm. In 2006, she joined NCCU Law as a full-time faculty member. She teaches, among other classes, Constitutional Law, Voting Rights, Administrative Law, and Supreme Court Seminar, and has been voted Professor of the Year multiple times. April also co-hosts The Legal Eagle Review, a weekly radio show which airs on Sundays at 7p on WNCU 90.7 FM in Durham, NC. April is the proud mother of four amazing kids — one is in law school, one is serving in the Peace Corps in Mongolia, and two are in college.

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Palak Sheth (she/her)
Co-Chair, ACS Bay Area Lawyer Chapter

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If I’m honest, I don’t know if I chose the law or the law chose me.  Growing up in Michigan as an opinionated girl who immigrated with her parents from India, I was told I would be a good lawyer because “I liked to argue.”  I was eight when I first remember being asked in class what I wanted to be when I grow up.  Instead of answering with a profession, I said I wanted to make a difference like Mahatma Gandhi.  And so, at eight years old despite never having met a lawyer in real life, I told myself I would go to law school and commit to civil rights and social justice work because Gandhi was a lawyer and I liked to argue.

I dedicated the first 12 years of my legal career to public interest work.  First at the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, a DC non-profit that provides direct legal services to the APA community, and then as the Program Director for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. It was there that I developed my passion for diversifying the bench, vetting the most esteemed lawyers in the APA community for Senate confirmed Article III judgeships.  This is also where I first learned about ACS’s work, its mission, and my desire to work with like-minded lawyers on a common goal.

Prior to joining ACS staff, my understanding of the organization was limited to the annual Convention.  I had never been surrounded by so many progressive lawyers with such deep Constitutional law expertise.  I immediately looked for a job with ACS and felt fortunate to join the Department of Network Advancement shortly thereafter.  My three years on staff were pivotal to my career.  Through the ACS network I found my next role as Managing Director of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office Affirmative Litigation Task Force.

I first learned about the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office in 2013 when I read a feature in the New York Times about their work against California’s Prop 8 banning same-sex marriage.  I remember being struck by not only the number of Supreme Court law clerks that worked for this local government office, but the number of women leading its most impactful work.  The Office is nationally recognized for its innovative consumer protection cases on behalf of the People of the State of California.  In my five years at the Office I worked alongside some of the brightest attorneys I had ever met.  First to develop cutting edge consumer protection cases, then to fight the Trump Administration on issues that impacted San Franciscans, including protecting SF’s sanctuary city laws.  I also managed the partnership with Yale Law School through the highly regarded San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project (SFALP) clinic and published a guide for more local government law offices to engage in affirmative litigation work.

After a long-standing public interest career, I joined Instagram’s Global Public Policy team earlier this year.  As the legal profession evolves, many of us striving to leverage our education to make a difference need to branch out to discover where we can maximize our impact.  Being a consumer advocate has highlighted my interest in working for a tech company that has global impact.  In my limited time at Instagram I’ve learned so much and continue to believe this was the perfect career pivot.  It has also made my commitment to ACS, both the Bay Area Lawyer chapter and the organization nationally, that much more important.

ACS engages, activates, and charges the progressive legal community to defend the rule of law.  But, to this day, when people ask me about ACS I speak about the strength of its network.  It distinguishes ACS from other progressive legal non-profits and is its richest resource for members.  ACS has pushed me to continue to advocate for a more diverse and progressive bench.  It has given me a platform to bring legal luminaries together to amplify our mission. Lastly, it has allowed me to continue to debate and engage on legal issues that impact our democracy.  I guess those that knew me at eight were right all along.  When it comes to advocating for what’s right, I do like to argue.

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