Author: Emil Krawczyk

October 2019: Andrew Jacobs

Posted on by Emil Krawczyk
Andrew Jacobs, President, ACS Arizona Lawyer Chapter

Andrew Jacobs (he/him)
President, ACS Arizona Lawyer Chapter 

As someone who’s been engaged in service to the bar and bench since graduating law school in 1992, who is interested in what the law means and how it affects people, and who cares deeply about our courts, ACS is many good things in my practice and world.   

ACS is a hub for public service in the law.  I have spent my career in private practice, but have always worked extensively on pro bono matters and public service projects in the law.  Being a lawyer brings with it an important responsibility to do good and to provide legal services to the poor, the underserved, and those with problems that go to important public issues.  For those reasons, I’ve founded and led pro bono programs, worked thousands of hours of pro bono in my career, and placed hundreds of pro bono cases.  ACS is a hub that organizes activity for the public good, focusing on voting rights and expanding registration and the franchise, connecting lawyers who care about the public good with impactful litigation and pro bono opportunities, and getting thought leaders together to consider innovative litigation and public policy strategies.  Both in the Arizona Lawyer Chapter that was rebooted with success in 2017, and at the National Convention, ACS is a great practical part of a law practice aimed at the public good. 

ACS is also a great salon of ideas.  I have written about legal issues since I was a law student, when I wrote law review articles about rights movements based on research from book stacks and microfiche in library basements (something my millennial friends didn’t have to worry about in their legal education).  An important part of being a lawyer is thinking about the Constitution and our law philosophically, interpretively, and as to its impact.  In Phoenix, we have heard from judges, deans, the National Director of Litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, leading election attorneys in the Southwest and from Washington DC, activists around the subject of private prisons, thought leaders addressing #MeToo, and national leaders in LGBT rights litigation.  The National Convention presents three days of thought-provoking encounters with judge and justices, state Attorneys General, inspirational speakers, and leaders in the national media, probing where the law is, where it might go, and how it might progress.   

Finally, but not least, ACS is a great group of friends and colleagues.  The Arizona Lawyer Chapter – along with its twin, the ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Student Chapter – is a wonderful group of people.  Coming together from government service, private firms, academia, and the bench, people from their twenties to their eighties meet to discuss shared concerns about the law and the courts, shared experiences, and a shared desire to be that public space in a state that is mistakenly thought of as monolithically not progressive.  Arizona in 2019 is a very vibrant place to be a group of progressive lawyers participating in the growth and change happening in Phoenix and throughout our amazing state.  We have a fun and cohesive group and enjoy each other, our panels, our lunches, and our friendships.  I’m just glad to be a part. 

Andrew Jacobs is a partner at Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix and has headed his firm’s appellate practice for a decade.   

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September 2019: José Caldera

Posted on by Emil Krawczyk
Jose Caldera- September 2019 LoACS
José Caldera, Member, ACS Missouri Lawyer Chapter (Central Missouri Division) Board of Directors

José Caldera (he/him)
Member, ACS Missouri Lawyer Chapter (Central Missouri Division) Board of Directors

I've always been a little naive, and I don't think I want that to change.  

My parents migrated from Central America in 1982. Like so many migrants, they were casualties of American interventionism. In Nicaragua, the brutal Sandinista regime ruled with an iron fist. Democracy was a forbidden word, and equality was a hollow propaganda tool used to steal lands and money. The Contras were even worse. With their brutal warlord tactics, they decimated Nicaragua and destroyed thousands of families. We lost dozens of relatives and friends to brutal conflicts.  In 1982, the conflicts reached my parents’ front door and they were faced with choosing between conscription, migration, or death.  

My parents refused to raise us in that oppressive environment, so they looked north to the world’s beacon of hope, America. They knew what the Reagan administration did to exacerbate the conflict that pushed them out of their homes, but that didn't change their view of America. America is bigger than any one person; it is an idea that we as a people can and must fight for. They firmly believed that anyone can become an American, and that once here, it is on each of us to push this country forward. Here, we fight for what is right even when we face insurmountable odds. Those are the values I was taught, and that is what I fight for today. 

I have spent my entire career in the public sector fighting for the American dream. I have served people from all walks of life, and at every stage, I have fought for those who cannot fight for themselves. I am currently a municipal attorney who focuses on land use and development. Most wouldn't expect this to be a position where a progressive attorney can have much impact, but my job focuses on issues that affect peoples’ everyday lives. It is just as important to have reliable transportation in underserved areas as it is to have an affordable way to go to college. Where sidewalks are built matters just as much as reforming financial institutions. Protecting clean waterways can impact a family’s life as much as immigration reform can. I work hard to view everything I do through a social equity lens because in my opinion, that is what our founding ideals demand, and it's how I help to build a more perfect union.   

I joined the University of Missouri-Columbia ACS Chapter on literally my first day of law school. This organization has exposed me to a large community of progressive attorneys who deeply care about the rule of law and its power to make change. ACS recognizes that the Constitution shows us the path to a more perfect union and pushes our legal community to lead the way. ACS shares and fights for my values, and that is why I am a proud member of ACS today.  

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August 2019: Ashland Johnson

Posted on by Emil Krawczyk
Ashland Johnson

Ashland Johnson (she/her)

I went to law school to promote civil rights through law and policy. As a lifetime southerner and a Georgia resident, I chose UGA Law school. Not surprisingly, it leaned “conservative” both in culture and legal education. I quickly realized two things-- I needed to find my (progressive) people and I needed to supplement my legal education to ensure I had the tools to be a successful civil rights advocate.

ACS provided me with lifelong solutions.

During law school, I used ACS educational resources to gain a deeper understanding of the constitutional questions that surrounded issue areas such as reproductive justice, voting rights, racial justice, and LGBTQ equality. Publications like The Constitution in 2020 and It’s a Consitution We’re Expounding, along with timely issue briefs provided me with a powerful foundation that shaped my understanding of progressive civil rights advocacy. They also helped me find my own voice in the advocacy space. Even today, I turn to ACS when I want a deeper understanding of law and policy issues.

In addition to fortifying my education, ACS has provided me with invaluable networking and mentorship opportunities. From my first ACS conference as a 1L, I’ve seen the ways ACS students and staff are passionate, excited to strategize chapter ideas, and dedicated to providing professional development opportunities. Further, the ACS Board and Lawyer Chapter leaders continue to be welcoming and eager to provide mentorship. These relationships have helped me excel in key roles with national organizations in the LGBTQ equality space, the women’s rights space, and the sports equity space. These experiences also led me to start an innovative project at the intersection of sports and social justice-- the Inclusion Playbook-- where I work with businesses, leagues, and organizations to transform their communities in and through sports.

As a lawyer and social justice advocate, ACS continues to be an indispensable professional resource. The materials ACS produces make me a stronger advocate. The support I continue to receive from my ACS mentors and colleagues inspires me to advance progressive values in innovative ways. As I start to mentor the next generation of young, progressive lawyers, I do so knowing that I have a truly exceptional ACS community behind me, ready to extend a hand and ensure that we all achieve.

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July 2019: Michael Meuti

Posted on by Emil Krawczyk
Michael Meuti, Member, ACS Northeast Ohio Chapter Board of Directors

Michael Meuti (he/him)
Member, ACS Northeast Ohio Chapter Board of Directors

I owe a lot to Bush v. Gore. During the summer of 2001, I was still trying to make sense of what the U.S. Supreme Court had done in that case and wondering how the law could be rescued from the cramped, outcome-oriented brand of jurisprudence that was ascendant. Enter ACS.

Fortunately, Bush v. Gore spurred some other law students to organize. The New York Times ran an article about something then called the Madison Society that then-Professor Peter Rubin kicked off at Georgetown. The idea was to provide a home for progressive lawyers, professors, judges, and law students, where they could hone their ideas, grow their networks, and take back the law from the reactionaries who were then in power.

I was intrigued.

I emailed Peter Rubin to get the green light, emailed some friends from law school who were scattered about the country that summer, and started planning how we’d get the Stanford Law School Chapter off the ground. We set a date for our first steering-committee meeting: September 11, 2001.

Needless to say, we rescheduled that meeting. And we found a renewed purpose, as the country faced challenges that it had never had to face on that scale: how to balance security and civil liberties. That challenge provided the topic one of our first events, which filled the law school’s largest lecture hall plus half of the overflow room where we broadcasted the event live.

I was hooked.

I’ve been hooked for about 18 years now. Since law school, I’ve worked in four cities. In three of them, I’ve served on the local ACS Chapter’s Executive Board. In one, I co-founded a Chapter. Through ACS, I’ve met more fascinating people than I can count—from sitting Senators, judges, and Justices; to leaders in the bars and on the benches in communities where I’ve practiced; to Ricky Jackson and Jarrett Adams, who spent a combined 46 years in prison for crimes that they never committed, but used their years after exoneration to inspire others. ACS has truly opened doors.

Beyond that, ACS has given me a place in Ohio’s legal community. It’s given me leadership opportunities that early-career legal work often doesn’t provide. Through ACS, I’ve developed deep relationships among my Executive Board colleagues, and as I’ve grown from an early-career lawyer to a mid-career lawyer, working with ACS has led to opportunities that otherwise would have been inaccessible. My work with ACS has been one of the best parts of my legal career, and ironically, I owe it all to one of the worst opinions of the last hundred years.

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June 2019: Juan Thomas

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Juan Thomas, Member, ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors

Juan Thomas (he/him)
Member, ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors

Today, my generation sits under trees we did not plant and enjoys the shade that protects us from the piercing rays of “white only signs,” the biting of police dogs, and having never been escorted into a school by the National Guard. My great-grandmother owned a restaurant in Yazoo City, Mississippi in the 1950’s and was ran out of town having to flee to Ohio because she signed a NAACP petition demanding that blacks be allowed to register to vote. White vendors refused to sell food products to her because she believed that she and those who looked like her should have the right to vote. I know the blessing of eating fruit from trees that she, my grandparents’ and parents’ generation seeded and grew for their children. My generation, born between 1965 and 1980 – have no memory of Malcolm X being gunned down by his “brothers” in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965, or of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final sermon on a rainy night in Memphis on April 3, 1968, or of Apollo 11 landing safely on the moon that permitted Neil Armstrong to take those first steps on July 20, 1969.

Even though much progress has been made to advance the cause of civil rights and social justice over the past 50 years, we still live in a country where unarmed black men are considered dangerous and are being killed. Communities of color in urban, and in some instances suburban, areas are plagued with crime and drugs. The need for comprehensive immigration reform and racial tensions remains ever present in the words of Maya Angelou, These Yet to Be United States of America. Too many people in America appear to be threatened by the “browning of the nation” and yearn to return to a far-off time of the 1940s and 1950s. Over the past few decades the debate over the misapplication of the rule of law within our communities has been at a low, but consistent, whisper. The whisper has now risen to a roar. It has moved from theoretical dialogues and roundtable discussions, to a touch-point which engenders a passion that reaches to the very core of who we are as a nation—and to the extent that these issues are the very foundation that we were built upon—we certainly need progressive minded lawyers and leaders who are committed to making America as good as its promise.

When I served as President of the National Bar Association, I said then and repeat now that our nation is amid a crisis of consciousness, a crisis of competence, and a crisis of character. Given these present-day realities, I am drawn to the important work of the American Constitution Society (ACS). ACS is a place I have found best equipped for me to continue to serve in an era where attacking reason, truth, and the rule of law have been normalized.

In my role as the Director of Lawyer Outreach for the ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter, I will do my part to recruit other like-minded lawyers to engage and participate in the work of ACS in Chicago and throughout the State of Illinois. Our city faces unique challenges with gun violence which is tied to poverty and the disinvestment in communities of color. Chicago is losing its population due to these and other issues that impact our region. ACS provides a crucial stage to amplify progressive values in the Chicago region. I’m honored to be a member of such a distinguished and remarkable organization. ACS has provided me with the information, resources and relationships to continue to serve this present age.

Juan R. Thomas is Of Counsel to Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A., and is the founder and principal of the Thomas Law Group. Mr. Thomas' practice includes the following specialties: real estate/estate planning, labor and employment, and family law. In addition, Mr. Thomas provides counseling and training to firm clients in areas involving personnel, collective bargaining, and business development matters. Mr. Thomas is a Past President of the National Bar Association (NBA) having served as the Association’s 75th President during the 2017-18 bar year. The National Bar Association is the largest Association of African American lawyers, judges, and law students in the United States with a professional network of over 65,000 people.

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May 2019: Seanna Brown

Posted on by Emil Krawczyk
Seanna Brown, Member, ACS New York Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors

Seanna Brown (she/her)
Member, ACS New York Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors

For the last ten years, I have served as the principal deputy to the Trustee and his chief counsel in the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s investment firm.  Through that representation, I have been afforded the opportunity to grapple with complex legal issues and see the fruits of our labor provide meaningful relief to Madoff’s defrauded investors, with over $12 billion returned to its rightful owners.  And for my entire career, I have worked on behalf of individuals and organizations in need of pro bono representation.  I represent clients on death row in Georgia and Alabama in their post-conviction capital litigation, and various organizations as amici curiae on constitutional issues such as relief from unlawful search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, relief from unconstitutional fines and fees under the Eighth Amendment, and gender equality under Title IX.

For most of my career, this balance of work was more than adequate – it sustained me intellectually and allowed me to do good and important work on behalf of a wide range of clients. Then in 2016, I became pregnant with my daughter—my first child.  I worked hard that year, doing the immediate work as well as much preparation as possible to prepare my clients and cases for my forthcoming maternity leave.  The 2016 presidential campaigns were always in the background and I paid attention when I could.  I donated.  I talked to family members and friends to try to get them to vote.  I got an absentee ballot to ensure I could vote even if the baby came early.  And like many others, I assumed that Hillary Clinton would win.

My last day in the office was the day after the election.  I had envisioned my colleagues and me at a celebratory lunch, and then ceremoniously logging out of my computer and skipping off into the sunset to prepare for the baby’s arrival.  Instead, I woke up that morning thinking the night before had all been a bad dream.  I rode the subway into the office, and it was eerily silent, as if you were riding the train by yourself.  In the office, people barely talked to one another because there wasn’t much to say.  I finished my last day almost numb, went home, and my daughter arrived shortly after.

I was in the throes of new motherhood, lots of late nights and early mornings where all I could do was read the news constantly.  Not only was I separated from the rhythms of the practice of law, I felt as though overnight I had woken up in a country I didn’t recognize.  My dreams for my daughter’s future collided with my fears wrought by the (still) shocking marriage of America’s democratic institutions and the forces of modern celebrity.  The clash was in part emotional, and in part intellectual. It became my motivation to join the American Constitution Society.

ACS brings together diverse and engaged individuals who share a common goal of supporting our nation’s democratic institutions and strengthening the fabric and resiliency of our democracy.  Being a part of ACS makes me feel grounded in a community that aims to foment change, big and small.  ACS recognizes that lawyers have a unique role to play in the current political environment and gives us the platform to both use those legal skills and make connections to other like-minded attorneys.  For me, it rounds out a broad legal practice by keeping me connected to the issues that are near and dear to my heart. Being an ACS member gives me an entrée to a network of professionals and events where we can bring the activism and change that is required of this moment.  As lawyers, we have a responsibility to use our skills to effect meaningful change and ACS is hands down the best outlet for those energies.

Seanna Brown is a partner at BakerHostetler. She represents Irving H. Picard, Trustee in the liquidation of the business of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.  Seanna is the co-chair of BakerHostetler’s Pro Bono Committee and is currently serving her second term on the Pro Bono Panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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