Leaders Council and Emerging Leaders Council
LSC’s Leaders Council (LC) and Emerging Leaders Council (ELC) bring together experts from diverse industries across the country. Members lend their voices and expertise to enhance LSC’s message by speaking publicly about the value of civil legal aid, penning op-eds and undertaking other outreach activities.
Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman of Health Assurance Initiatives, General Catalyst, and Harriet Miers, partner at Locke Lord LLP and former White House counsel, serve as co-chairs of the LC. Sara Agate, a health justice attorney and innovation and policy advocate; Eduardo Gonzalez, program officer for civil justice at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences; and Kristen Sonday, co-founder of tech company Paladin, serve as co-chairs of the ELC. Members of both councils continued to advocate for LSC throughout the year.
Members of the LC are serving as co-chairs for LSC’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2024. Miers and Fraizer are co-chairs in addition to Martha Minow, chair of the MacArthur Foundation Board of Directors; David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO, The Carlyle Group; and Brad Smith, vice chair and president, Microsoft Corporation. Many members are also supporting fundraising efforts for the 50th anniversary campaign.
LC and ELC members were frequent panelists and speakers at LSC events throughout the year. Several ELC members spoke at LSC’s Innovations in Technology Conference in January about how legal technology can help close the justice gap.
Members of the LC highlighted the value of legal aid to the business community at two LSC panel discussions in March and July. They included Deneen Donnley, senior vice president and general counsel, Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc.; Matthew Dornauer, chief legal officer, Heineken USA; Ivan K. Fong, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Medtronic; Rena H. Reiss, executive vice president and general counsel, Marriott International; and John F. Schultz, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Other LC members, including bestselling novelist John Grisham and American Bar Association President
Deborah Enix-Ross, also spoke at LSC events on the impact of the justice gap on low-income Americans and efforts to increase access to justice. Members of both councils were also guests on LSC’s “Talk Justice” podcast this year. Enix-Ross joined an episode to share her priorities in leading the ABA and her thoughts on the role of lawyers in preserving democracy. Sam Flynn, chief operating officer and co-founder at Josef, discussed the potential impact of generative AI on legal services on another episode. Ransom Wydner, vice president of pro bono and social impact work for SixFifty, joined other experts to discuss a new report on the causes and consequences of eviction.
Wydner also penned an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune that looked at his childhood experiences with eviction and what can be done to help children facing housing insecurity today. “When a family can’t afford rent, they need a little time to land on their feet,” he wrote. “They need emergency funds to make ends meet and help relocating to somewhere they can afford long term.
Other ELC members contributed articles to LSC’s “Justice Rising” blog on topics including the power of pro bono to change lives, the cost of civil debt cases and AI’s in expanding access to justice.
