Chief Justice Roberts Swears in New Legal Services Corporation Board

WASHINGTON – Chief Justice John Roberts today swore in the new Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). Four new members joined seven continuing ones at the ceremony in the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court Building.

Chief Justice Roberts noted that it is “an extraordinarily appropriate day in this appropriate place” for the ceremony, because 52 years ago on this date Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as an Associate Justice, becoming the court’s first African-American Justice. 

LSC is the single largest provider of civil legal assistance for low income people in the nation. It is headed by an 11-member Board of Directors appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. By law, the board is bipartisan: no more than six members may be of the same political party.

The new members sworn in today are:

Matthew Keenan, a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP based in Kansas City. He previously served as chair of the firm's Pro Bono Committee for eight years and on the board of Legal Aid of Western Missouri. He was a columnist for the Kansas City Star for seventeen years.

Abigail L. Kuzma, co-founder and former Executive Director of the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic and former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Indiana Attorney General. She has been serving as a member of LSC’s Governance and Performance Review Committee and Delivery of Legal Services Committee.

John G. Malcolm, Vice President of the Institute for Constitutional Government and Director and Senior Legal Fellow of the Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. He previously served as General Counsel for the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom and as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations for the Motion Picture Association of America.

Frank X. Neuner, Jr., a partner at NeunerPate based in Lafayette, Louisiana. He is a past Chair of the Louisiana Public Defender Board and a past President of the Louisiana State Bar Association. He has been serving as a member of LSC’s Governance and Performance Review Committee and Operations and Regulations Committee.

The continuing members are:

Robert J. Grey, Jr., retired Senior Counsel at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP and current President of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity based in Richmond, Virginia.

John G. Levi, LSC’s current Chair of the Board of LSC and a partner at Sidley Austin LLP based in Chicago. He has been Chair since April 7, 2010.

Victor Maddox, a partner in the Louisville, Kentucky law firm of Fultz Maddox Dickens PLC.

Laurie Mikva, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and Commissioner on the Illinois Court of Claims.

Father Pius Pietrzyk, O.P., Chair of the Department of Pastoral Studies and Assistant Professor of Canon Law at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California.

Julie Reiskin, Executive Director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition in Denver.

Gloria Valencia-Weber, Professor of Law Emerita at the University of New Mexico Law School in Albuquerque.

Malcolm was designated to replace Martha Minow, former Dean of Harvard Law School and the school’s current 300th Anniversary University Professor, who has served as LSC’s Vice Chair since 2010.  Keenan replaces Harry J.F. Korrell III, a partner in the Seattle office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.