Karen Lash, senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, to speak on federal efforts to increase access to justice, November 7, 2011

The University of Texas School of Law’s William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law and Career Services Office will present speaker Karen A. Lash, senior counsel for access to justice at the U.S. Department of Justice, on Monday, November 7, 2011, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Sheffield Room (TNH 2.111) at the Law School.

Lash will speak from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. about the Obama Administration’s Access to Justice Initiative and her work at the federal level to close the justice gap. From 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lash will speak about her life in the law and offer tips for students considering public service careers. Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Audience members may attend one or both sessions.

The Access to Justice Initiative was launched by the Department of Justice in March 2010. The initiative seeks to ensure that the justice system is fair and accessible to all, irrespective of wealth and status, and that the justice system delivers fair outcomes efficiently. As senior counsel for access to justice, Lash works within the department, across federal agencies, and with state, local, and tribal justice-system stakeholders to increase access to counsel and legal assistance, and for improvements to the justice delivery systems that serve people unable to afford lawyers.

Before joining the Department of Justice, Lash was a consultant for law schools and nonprofits, including the Mississippi Center for Justice, American Constitution Society, NLADA, and the law schools at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley. She has served as Equal Justice Works vice president of programs; USC Law School associate dean; Public Counsel’s child care law project director; Tuttle & Taylor associate; and clerk to U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Warren J. Ferguson. Lash has been a cochair of the California Access to Justice Commission, and through the ABA and Public Interest Law Initiative helped establish legal clinics in Moldova, Ukraine, Bahrain, Slovakia, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, and Macedonia. Lash has a BA from UCLA and a JD from USC Law School, where she was executive notes editor of the Southern California Law Review.

Lash’s talk is part of the occasional “Lives in the Law” speaker series focusing on the work and lives of lawyers who strive to improve the lives of others through litigation, advocacy, and public service, presented by the Justice Center and Career Services Office.

The talk is cosponsored by UT Law’s Pro Bono Program, the Public Interest Law Association, and the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights.

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