| STAFF |
| Law Center Attorneys Click on names for complete bios |
Jennifer R. Clarke, Executive Director Michael Churchill, Of Counsel James Eiseman, Jr., Senior Attorney Benjamin D. Geffen, Staff Attorney Sonja D. Kerr, Director, Disabilities Rights Project |
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Other Staff Members
Latrice Brooks, Legal Secretary Taylor Goodman, Development Director David Hanyok, Communications Associate Lisa R. Sica, Director of Finance and Administration
Fellows
LaTrice D. Brooks, Legal Secretary  While attending St. Maria Goretti High School, Ms. Brooks joined the Law Center part time as a File Clerk. After a few years of experience, she was promoted to Secretary. In 2008, Ms. Brooks completed her courses at Penn Foster Career School and
now holds a Legal Secretary Certification. She is also a member of NALS (National Association for Legal Professionals). Ms. Brooks’ responsibilities include Notary Public, Electronic Court Filings (ECF), Filings with Office for Dispute Resolutions (ODR), Scheduling Consultations and a wide range of other
secretarial and administrative tasks. back to top Amy Laura Cahn, Skadden Fellow  In
the Fall of 2011, Amy Laura Cahn joined the Law Center as a recipient of the prestigious
Skadden Fellowship.
Amy Laura provides comprehensive legal assistance, including direct
legal, transactional, and negotiation support, to Philadelphians in
historically underserved and low wealth communities using urban farming to
encourage economic independence, foster community food sovereignty, and
reclaim neighborhoods from urban blight.Amy Laura is a 2009 graduate, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a Toll Public Interest Scholar, a Louderback Legal Writing Fellow, and co-founder of Penn Law's Environmental Law Project. While at Penn Law, Amy Laura interned at Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Natural Resources Defense Counsel. Amy Laura graduated summa cum laude from Hunter College with a B.A. in urban studies. Amy Laura previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael M. Baylson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 2009-2010, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stephen Skillman, P.J.A.D., of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. Prior to law school, Amy Laura was a theatrical lighting designer, a community organizer, and a co-founder of New York City's Bluestockings Women's Bookstore. Her community-based study on childhood lead paint poisoning, written with Gabriel Thompson, helped overturn New York City's lead laws in 2004. In 2002 and 2003, Amy Laura traveled to the West Bank and Gaza to support non-violent civil resistance movements in support of land and resource sovereignty. Amy Laura recently worked with the Law Center and classmates from Penn Law’s Visual Legal Advocacy seminar to produce a documentary entitled, “Pennhurst: the Road to Civil Rights for People with Disabilities." back to top Jennifer R. Clarke, Executive Director  Ms. Clarke is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, where she was an
editor of the Columbia Law Review and a Stone Scholar. She is a magna cum laude
graduate of Dartmouth College. Ms. Clarke joined the Law Center in February
2006. From 1991 until January 2006, Ms. Clarke was a partner at Dechert LLP. She
was an associate at Dechert Price & Rhoads (1987-1991) and White & Case
(1983-1987). Ms. Clarke has spent her legal career defending and prosecuting
complex civil cases, with a concentration in antitrust class actions. She was
counsel for a plaintiff class of Michigan children to redress the failure by
state officials to provide health care as required by the Social Security Act.
She also was counsel for the City of Philadelphia in a successful suit
challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that altered the balance of
power between the city and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She represented
then Philadelphia City Council President John Street in a suit against the
Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority and the Transit Workers Union, seeking
to compel the two to settle a long-running and harmful transit strike. Ms.
Clarke is listed in Best Lawyers in America. 2005, 2006; Chambers USA 2005 and
as a Philadelphia Magazine Superlawyer, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. She was
a founder and officer of The Caring Center, a not-for-profit child care
center serving 200 children in West Philadelphia and currently serves on the
board of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.back to top  A graduate of Harvard College and cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr.
Churchill joined the Law Center in 1976. Prior to that, he clerked for Chief
Judge J. Edward Lumbard in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, then was an
associate and then partner at Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. Mr. Churchill
also served as Acting General Counsel of the Philadelphia School District in
1984. Among the many landmark cases litigated by Mr. Churchill are the
Philadelphia School District desegregation case,
PHRC v. School District of
Philadelphia; Dickerson v. U.S. Steel, a race discrimination case under Title
VII;
Freeman v. City of Philadelphia, a police hiring class action; and
McLaughlin v. Pernsley, which established the right to trans-racial adoption in
Pennsylvania. Mr. Churchill is a 1994 recipient of the Lawyers' Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law's Edwin D. Wolf Award. In 1995, Mr. Churchill was
recognized with the Philadelphia Bar Association's Obermeyer Award for service
to education and in 2000 he received the Guardian Civic League's Special
Recognition Award. In 2008 he received the Andrew Hamilton Lifetime Award
from the Philadelphia Bar Association Public Interest Section.back to top  After
practicing law for more than thirty-five years at Drinker Biddle & Reath,
Mr. Eiseman retired in 2003 and joined the staff of the Law Center where he
currently handles litigation to improve the delivery of health care services
to children and to develop quality community services for the disabled. Mr.
Eiseman graduated from Harvard College with honors. He obtained his law
degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he served as
Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. Mr. Eiseman was a partner at Drinker for
more than twenty-five years and Of Counsel for four years. While there, Mr.
Eiseman handled a wide variety of litigation, including anti-trust, contract
and civil rights cases for motion picture and theatre operators, contract
and environmental cases for manufacturers and defamation, tenure and
employment termination cases for hospitals and universities. Since the
mid-1980s, Mr. Eiseman's principal civic involvement has been as a board
member of the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Philadelphia and its
affiliate, the Visiting Nurse Society of Philadelphia, of which he is
currently Chairman. back to top Benjamin D. Geffen, Staff Attorney  Ben graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in Philosophy.
After working for several years in the not-for-profit sector in Boston, Ben attended
the New York University School of Law, where he served as Editor in Chief of the NYU
Annual Survey of American Law. Ben came to the Law Center in October 2010 after
completing a clerkship with the Honorable Robert M. Levy in the Eastern District of
New York. At the Law Center, Ben works on issues including special education,
employment discrimination, and voting rights.
back to top Taylor M. Goodman, Development Director
back to top Dave graduated from Brown University in 2010 with a major in English, and he joined the Law Center soon after as a Development & Communications Intern. In March 2011, he was brought on as an official staff member. In his current role as Communications Associate, Dave manages web communications and social media platforms, plans and implements media and outreach strategies, and markets Law Center events. Other responsibilities include event planning, development assistance, occasional paralegal tasks, and other special projects. He plans to attend law school starting in the Fall of 2012. Sonja D. Kerr, Director, Disabilities Rights Project
Read more about Ms. Kerr in the press release announcing her arrival. Lisa R. Sica, Director of Finance and Administration  Ms. Sica joined the staff of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia in 2010 after completing her Masters degree in Public Policy at New England College. Prior to joining the Law Center she gained valuable experience as Controller for the Northeast Financial Corporation where she was responsible for over $30 million in assets and human resources support for a staff of over 150, and as Customer Service Manager for EdgeCraft Corporation where she managed accounts receivable and order processing. Asked to describe what drew her to work at the Law Center, Ms. Sica said she found the work to be rewarding and stated, “I love the people here and their principles of equal representation.”
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Taylor
graduated with a major in French from Haverford College in 2009. After
graduating, she participated in the Philly Fellows program, where she worked
on the development and communications staff of Energy Coordinating Agency.
Taylor joined the Law Center in April 2011 after serving as Placement &
Development Coordinator at LEADERSHIP Philadelphia. At the Law Center,
Taylor's responsibilities include coordinating the annual fundraising
campaign, as well as special projects such as events, email and web
communications, and publications.