Senate Confirms Six Nominees to LSC's Board of Directors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, DC -- Six presidential nominees were confirmed by the U.S. Senate today to serve on the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC).

The six nominees were Sharon L. Browne, Robert J. Grey, Jr., Charles N.W. Keckler, John G. Levi, Victor B. Maddox and Martha L. Minow. President Obama announced their nominations last year and the nominations were approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, led by Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.).

LSC is the single largest provider of civil legal assistance for the poor in the nation. Funded by Congress, LSC operates as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that promotes equal access to justice and provides grants for high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans.

On August 6, 2009, the White House announced the nominations of Robert Grey, a partner in the Richmond, Va., and Washington offices of the Hunton & Williams law firm; John Levi, a partner in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP, and Martha Minow, dean of the Harvard Law School.

On December 17, 2009, the White House announced the nominations of Sharon Browne, a principal attorney in the Pacific Legal Foundation's Individual Rights Practice group and a member of the foundation's senior management; Charles Keckler, who teaches civil procedure and evidence at Pennsylvania State University's Dickinson School of Law, and Victor Maddox, a partner in the Louisville, Ky., law firm of Fultz Maddox Hovious & Dickens PLC.

Two other LSC nominees, Julie A. Reiskin, executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, and Gloria Valencia-Weber, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, await confirmation by the Senate. Last year, the Senate confirmed Laurie Mikva, a staff attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Illinois Department of Employment Security, to the LSC Board. The White House has not announced the remaining two nominees for the Board.