Today, in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s enduring legacy, PLC recognizes our volunteers for justice and our advocates on staff for all they do to ensure access to justice in Orange County. Each of you truly embodies Dr. King’s affirmation that “the time is always right to do what is right.” PLC clients are facing unprecedented challenges in their daily lives and your service is a key component to PLC’s bridge across the justice gap.

For more information on how you can serve in 2022, please visit www.publiclawcenter.org/volunteer. Please note that while PLC’s life-changing work continues in earnest, we have temporarily closed our physical office for the health and safety of our staff and clients through Friday, February 4th.

As we begin our 41st year of service to the Orange County community, we are happy to to introduce our new Board of Director leadership and members. President Christy Lea is a Knobbe Martens partner. Christy’s journey with PLC and our clients began more than two decades ago as a first-year associate at Knobbe Martens when she staffed PLC’s domestic violence clinic and helped found her firm’s Pro Bono Committee.

Vice President Nicole Whyte is a founding principal of Bremen Whyte Brown & O’Meare, LLP. Christy, Nicole and their firms provided leadership gifts during our year-end 40th Anniversary campaign, which raised over $180,000! Rounding out PLC’s Board of Directors Leadership Ladder are Secretary/Treasurer Dina Randazzo and Immediate Past President Brian B. Farrell. PLC also welcomed several new members of our Board of Directors:

John Altstadt, Altstadt Consulting

LaVal Brewer, South County Outreach

Steven Cardoza, Sheppard Mullin

Matt Costello, Haynes Boone

Andrew R. Gray, Latham & Watkins

Jacqueline G. Luther, ABM Industries

Lisa D. Ramirez, U.S. Immigration Law Group

Ajit Thind, Rutan & Tucker

We also applaud long time PLC board members Maya Dunne, Mark Erickson, Mike Ermer, Michele Johnson, Phil Kohn and Aaron Malo for their many years of stalwart leadership as well as board member Adrianne Marshack, all of whose terms ended in 2021. And we congratulate former board member Michelle Bell who left our board when she became an Orange County Superior Court Commissioner. To view our entire Board of Directors, please visit our website.