Civil Rights Veteran Joins Public Counsel

 Catherine Lhamon Named New Director of Impact Litigation at 40-Year-Old Civil Rights Organization

LOS ANGELES,  -- Public Counsel, the nation's largest pro bono public interest law firm, today announced the appointment of Catherine Lhamon as the organization's newly-created Director of Impact Litigation. Lhamon will develop and supervise office-wide impact litigation for the Los Angeles-based civil rights organization, whose 41 in-house attorneys provide free legal services, advocacy, and technical support to pro bono attorneys serving low-income families, children, immigrants, and non-profits.

Lhamon moves to Public Counsel from the ACLU of Southern California, where she was the Assistant Legal Director and an attorney for the past 10 years. Lhamon is a 1996 graduate of Yale Law School and a Clerk with the Honorable William A. Norris of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has been named one of the Top 75 Women Litigators in California (Daily Journal, 2007), one of the Top 20 California Attorneys Under Age 40, and a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year in Civil Rights (2004). She was one of the principal architects and litigators behind the groundbreaking Williams v. State of California class action that secured $1 billion in funding for California public schools. Lhamon's legal career also includes significant civil rights victories in the areas of police abuse, school desegregation, and racial profiling.

Public Counsel's President & CEO Hernan D. Vera explained, "Catherine is a phenomenally talented public interest lawyer who has been on the cutting edge nationally of efforts to use litigation to address systemic inequities afflicting low-income schools and communities of color. We are thrilled to have her onboard, and confident that Public Counsel will provide her with a broad platform upon which to address the important legal issues of tomorrow."

Catherine Lhamon is looking forward to her new position: "I am honored and delighted to join Public Counsel's effort to provide excellent lawyering to underserved communities and to build on Public Counsel's historic expertise to further impact low-income persons in California."

About Public Counsel

Public Counsel is the country's largest pro bono, public interest law firm. In 2008, with the assistance of over 2,000 attorney volunteers from hundreds of law firms, Public Counsel served over 27,000 individuals and entities, providing over $83 million in free services.

SOURCE Public Counsel