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ELC Welcomes New Board Members,
Board Officers, and Staff
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Education Law Center is growing! We are excited to announce that our organization has several new board members and officers. We are also thrilled to welcome five new staff members who have joined us in our work to ensure all children in Pennsylvania have access to quality public education, focusing on the most underserved children, including students in poverty, students of color, students with disabilities, English language learners, students in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, LGBTQ/GNC youth, and students experiencing homelessness.
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W. John Lee
W. John Lee is a partner at Morgan Lewis in Philadelphia whose practice focuses on complex employment litigation in several areas including defending employers in class/collective actions involving systemic discrimination and wage/hour claims, whistleblower claims, and a wide variety of single- and multi- plaintiff discrimination, retaliation, and harassment suits. With a strong commitment to pro bono, John serves the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, represented an inmate in a Section 1983 action through a jury trial, and worked with a team at Morgan Lewis who obtained asylum for a Syrian family. John also sits on the board of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group. A graduate of Temple Law School and the University of Virginia, John lives in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia with his wife and their three children.
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Lezlie Madden
Lezlie Madden is an attorney at Cozen O'Connor, where she specializes in antitrust, commercial litigation, criminal defense and internal investigations. Before joining Cozen, Lezlie clerked for the Honorable P. Kevin Castel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2006-2007 and for the Honorable Kent A. Jordan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit from 2008-2009. Lezlie received her law degree from Fordham University School of Law in 2006. Lezlie and her husband, Matt, live in Fairmount with their two children.
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Gretchen Santamour - President
Gretchen Santamour,
a partner at Stradley Ronon,
has been elected President of the Education Law Center Board of Directors. A
n ELC Board member since 2013,
Gretchen concentrates her practice in the areas of loan documentation, finance, bankruptcy, loan workouts and restructuring. She regularly represents financial institutions, real estate investors, landlords and other creditors. She served as a member of the executive committee of the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project and the Friends of the Free Library, and is a member of the American Bar Association Corporation's Banking and Business Law Section, The Forum of Executive Women and the Turnaround Management Association.
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Al Suh - Vice President
Albert Suh, an ELC Board member since 2014 and Deputy General Counsel at Keystone Foods, has been elected Vice President of the Education Law Center Board of Directors. Before joining Keystone, Al served as Assistant General Counsel at Aramark, a litigation associate at Dechert LLP, and a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas N. O'Neill, Jr., United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Between college and law school, he worked as an organizer for the State Public Interest Research Groups at Rutgers University and the University of California, Berkeley. He is a graduate of Princeton University and received his law degree from Rutgers Law School.
Al lives in West Philadelphia with his wife, Nancy, and their two sons.
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Reynelle Brown Staley
Reynelle Brown Staley joins ELC as a Policy Attorney. Reynelle focuses on improving local, state, and federal education policy in areas including fair funding, equal access, and school climate. Reynelle began her legal career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP working on behalf of schoolchildren in her native New York City to successfully challenge the constitutionality of New York's school funding system in Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. v. The State of New York. She has engaged in litigation and administrative advocacy before numerous state, federal and international bodies, including briefing to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the right of school districts to engage in voluntary desegregation efforts. Before joining ELC, Reynelle served as the founding Executive Director of After-School All-Stars Philadelphia, providing access to out-of-school time programming to under-resourced schools. As Deputy Director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, she led the City's efforts to protect and promote the civil rights of all Philadelphians. Reynelle is a graduate of Yale University, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School. She is also an alumna of the Philadelphia African-American Leadership Development Program and the Coro Fellows Program. She has served on the board of the New York Urban League and is currently a member of the Clementine Montessori School Board of Trustees.
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Paige Joki
Paige joins ELC as an Independence Foundation Public Interest Law Fellow. Her work centers on eliminating individual and systemic barriers to quality education for students experiencing homelessness in the Philadelphia region. Originally from Boise, Idaho, Paige completed her undergraduate studies with honors at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. In 2014, Paige was selected as a NAACP LDF Earl Warren Fellow and a Temple University Beasley School of Law Rubin-Presser Social Justice Fellow. During her time at Temple Law, Paige participated in clinical internships through the Sheller Center for Social Justice and worked at the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. Paige interned and externed with the NAACP LDF, where she was selected for the Honorable Lewis H. Pollak Memorial Scholarship. She also served as a student mentor for the Black Law Student Association (BLSA) and Rubin-Presser fellowship. Upon graduation in 2017, Paige was inducted into the Rubin-Presser Public Interest Honor Society. She also received the Beth Cross Award for her notable contributions to public service at Temple, and devotion to pursuing a legal career in social justice.
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Rabiyah Mujahid
Rabiyah Mujahid is a Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND) Fellow at ELC. Her work focuses on providing advocacy and identifying barriers to school success for children experiencing homelessness. Rabiyah is a recent graduate with honors from Arcadia University. During her time at Arcadia University, Rabiyah served as an AmeriCorps Next Step Member, challenging criminal justice policies which adversely impact lives and the achievement gap in education through mentoring underrepresented students. She also served as President of Pushing Our Women to Excel in The Real World (POWER), Office of International Peer Associates League, and Student Government Association Senator. During her undergraduate career, Rabiyah interned with former State Representative Ronald G. Waters, Tom Wolf for Governor, Office of Diversity and Inclusion at TD Bank, and Philadelphia Youth Action. Before joining ELC, Rabiyah served as Curriculum Coordinator for The Urban Affairs Coalition's WorkReady Program, providing 1400 youth across the City of Philadelphia with summer employment. As Curriculum Coordinator, she designed and implemented curriculum based on leadership development, professionalism, service learning, and the importance of self-awareness.
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Jackie joins the Education Law Center's Pittsburgh office in September 2017 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow. Her fellowship focuses on access to education for English Language Learners. Jackie previously served as a clerk for the honorable Joy Flowers Conti, Chief United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and worked as a Kaufman Legal Fellow for the Education Law Center. She received a law degree from Harvard Law School and a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. As a student, Jackie worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the ACLU of Michigan, and Cohen Milstein, a plaintiff's side class action firm. During law school Jackie participated in the Immigration and Refugee Clinic, the Post-Foreclosure Eviction Defense Clinic, and two independent clinics, one at The Legal Resources Centre in Cape Town, South Africa and the other at New York Legal Assistance Group. Jackie was also a student attorney in the Harvard Defenders and an editor on the Journal of Law and Gender. Prior to law school, Jackie worked as a middle school English teacher in Washington, D.C. She graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College in 2009 and earned a Masters in Education from American University in 2011.
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Lizzy joins ELC as a Stoneleigh Foundation Emerging Leader Fellow. Her work focuses on removing education barriers facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming youth. Lizzy graduated from Temple University Beasley School of Law magna cum laude and served as a Staff Editor on The Temple Law Review. During her time in law school Lizzy advocated for vulnerable populations through completing internships and practica at multiple public interest organizations, including: Community Legal Services, Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program, and Philadelphia Legal Assistance. She also encouraged other students to engage in public interest work through her leadership as Co-Chair of the National Lawyers Guild Expungement Project and as Co-President of the Family Law Society. Upon graduation, Lizzy received a Beth Cross award for notable contributions to public service and was inducted into the Rubin-Presser Public Interest Honor Society. The Philadelphia Bar Association Public Interest Section honored Lizzy with a Law Student Award in recognition of her leadership in Temple Law's public interest law community. Prior to law school, Lizzy earned her bachelor of arts at Haverford College before serving as a Haverford House Fellow. In her capacity as a Fellow, Lizzy worked as a paralegal in Philadelphia Legal Assistance's Family Law Unit and completed a project aimed at engaging Haverford undergraduate students with the issue of homelessness in Philadelphia.
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United Way Donor Choice Code: 1873 (Southeastern PA)
A copy of the Education Law Center's official registration and financial information may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
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Ensuring access to a quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania
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