Pioneers and Pathfinders · David Stern
The justice gap is one of the most serious issues facing our country. Of low-income Americans experiencing civil legal problems, the vast majority receive inadequate or no legal help at all. This gap is the result of overlapping issues facing the legal industry: the cost of law school, the complexity of our justice system, and the slow adoption of technology by lawyers and the courts, among others.
Our guest today is David Stern, a legal industry pioneer who has spent the majority of his career addressing the justice gap. He is executive director of Equal Justice Works, an organization committed to mobilizing passionate public service leaders. Under David's leadership, Equal Justice Works has grown to become the nation's largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law. The organization has facilitated more than 2,500 public interest fellowships, with 85% of fellows remaining in public service.
Listen in to today's conversation to hear:
- How educational debt has increased the justice gap—and what Equal Justice Works has done to make it easier for students with debt to choose public service jobs.
- How a child of a professional muckraker went from law school to clerkship, to a brief stint in practice; and how a chance encounter on the other side of the planet led him to Equal Justice Works.
- Why today's law students have such an appetite for public service; and inspiring success stories of Equal Justice Works fellows.
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