2024 Educating Legislators about Legal Aid 2.0 (EJC)

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This session is designed to build on the workshops we have done for the past few years on how to explain legal aid as constituent services to legislators and their staff. Now that many LSC grantees and other legal aid programs have begun to develop relationships with their federal and state legislators and staff, we want to identify ways to build on and expand those connections, e.g., provide trainings for district caseworkers; involve legislative staff in community outreach efforts. The panel will include LSC grantee Executive Directors and civil legal aid practitioners with experience meeting with and educating federal and state legislators and their staff. The panel will also address compliance with LSC lobbying restrictions applicable to LSC grantees in communicating with legislators.

The importance of educating federal & state legislators across the political spectrum, and their staff, about legal services.
The nuts & bolts of scheduling meetings with legislators & staff, inviting legislators and staff to visit your program, and ensuring the meetings are as productive as possible.
How to build on your experience reaching out to federal and state legislators and staff to develop ongoing relationships that are mutually beneficial.
How to remain cognizant of LSC's lobbying restrictions in your communications with legislators.

Carol Bergman, JD

Vice President for Government Relations & Public Affairs

Legal Services Corporation

Carol Bergman has been the Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs at the Legal Services Corporation since 2012 and is responsible for managing LSC's communications and relationship with Congress, the executive branch, the media, and the public. Carol has been engaged in federal legislative and policy work for more than 25 years. She served as director of legislative affairs for drug policy in the Clinton White House, and as associate counsel for the Committee on Government Operations in the U.S. House of Representatives. She has also worked for several non-governmental organizations on a wide range of domestic and international issues that disproportionately impact poor people, including HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and criminal justice reform.

Ron Flagg

President

Legal Services Corporation

Ronald Flagg was appointed President of the Legal Services Corporation effective February 20, 2020, and previously served as Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel since 2013.  He previously practiced commercial and administrative litigation at Sidley Austin LLP for 31 years, 27 years as a partner. He chaired the firm’s Committee on Pro Bono and Public Interest Law for more than a decade.  Flagg served as president of the District of Columbia Bar in 2010-2011 and currently serves as Chair of the Bar’s Pro Bono Task Force and on the Board of the DC Bar Foundation. He previously also served as Chair of the Board of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, Chair of the District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Center, Chair of the Board of the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly, and as a member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, the Board of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission. Flagg graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and cum laude from Harvard Law School. He began his career as a law clerk to Judge Myron L. Gordon, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and as attorney-advisor in the United States Department of Justice, Office of Intelligence Policy.