The Legal Aid Society Board of Directors presents …

the Equal Access to Justice Award Luncheon

Thank you to all who joined us for the Legal Aid Society’s Equal Access to Justice Award Luncheon!

Together we raised $356,184 and counting to help benefit the critical legal services LAS provides, and celebrated outstanding pro bono contributions to our mission.

Thank you to our generous event sponsors who make our work to provide equal access to justice possible! And a special thank you goes to our William H. Avery Award honoree, Heather J. Russell and TransUnion for their commitment to pro bono, along with our Steven R. Gilford Pro Bono Awardee, Proskauer Rose LLP, for their support of LAS!

Honoring:

Heather J. Russell
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer of TransUnion
The William H. Avery Award

Ms. Russell is an accomplished legal executive with more than 25 years of diverse experience across the global financial services and technology sectors. She is responsible for legal, risk, compliance, government and regulatory relations, corporate governance, consumer privacy and ESG functions for TransUnion and its subsidiaries around the world. Prior to joining the Company in 2018, Ms. Russell was a partner at the law firm of Buckley, LLP, where she led the firm’s Financial Institutions Regulation, Supervision and FinTech practices. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Fifth Third Bank. Prior to that, she served as Managing Director and Global Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Bank of New York Mellon, and as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Bank of America. She also spent eight years at Skadden in Washington, D.C. and London focused on financial services, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions.

Ms. Russell earned her B.A. from the College of William & Mary and her J.D. with honors from American University’s Washington College of Law, where she received the Outstanding Graduate Award. Ms. Russell serves on the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organization, representing the interests of over three million businesses and organizations. She is also on the boards of Illinois Legal Aid Online and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs where she chairs the board’s Nominating and Governance Committee.

Learn more about the William H. Avery Award.

Steven R. Gilford Pro Bono Award:

Proskauer Rose LLP

Learn more about the Steven R. Gilford Pro Bono Award.

Thank you to our Host Committee:

Hear from LAS staff about the impact that inspires them to work toward equal access to justice for all, regardless of ability to pay for quality legal representation:

“It’s huge to us because we know the faces behind those victories,” shares Catherine Longkumer, Managing Attorney of our Individual Rights and Social Justice Practice Group. “To have those moments where we can call up a client and say, your t-visa has been approved, your judgment status has been approved, we’re able to reunite you with your family, you’re going to get to see your kids again? That is what keeps us going and doing this work.”

To support this work and LAS’s transformational impact, make a contribution or get involved today.

ABOUT THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
LAS provides quality legal representation to victims of human trafficking and other crimes, including domestic violence, abused and exploited seniors or disabled adults, homeowners in foreclosure, tenants faced with unlawful eviction and victims of financial exploitation and consumer fraud. Today LAS impacts more than 20,000 people each year.
Visit www.laschicago.org to learn more