Civil Rights Group Name New Exec Director

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. has announced that its new Executive Director, Jay Readey, will join the organization on December 13. The Chicago Lawyers' Committee is the public interest law consortium of Chicago's leading law firms. From nineteen firms in 1969, the Committee has grown to forty-five member firms today. Throughout its 41-year history, the Committee has championed civil rights and equal opportunity for poor, disadvantaged, minority and other marginalized populations. Edward Feldman of Miller Shakman & Beem, LLP, who serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Committee, said, "I am very excited that Jay Readey will serve as our Executive Director. Jay's commitment to equal opportunity and disadvantaged communities has shown throughout his career, and his nonprofit management and leadership experience make him well-positioned to lead the organization through a new phase of expanded service in fulfillment of our mission."

Mr. Readey brings a wide range of legal and nonprofit experience in equal justice to the Committee. Most recently, he served as President and founder of the MetroAlliance, a consortium of entrepreneurial community change organizations including NeighborScapes, a nonprofit youth and workforce development organization; MetroAlliance Consulting, Inc., providing strategy and grant writing assistance to community-based nonprofit organizations; and a private legal practice in community development and federal tax credit investments in low-income communities. Mr. Readey also served as a technical assistance provider to Illinois ResourceNet, helping nonprofit organizations and municipalities access federal funding. Prior to his time with MetroAlliance and Illinois ResourceNet, Mr. Readey was a lawyer in private practice in the corporate group at Jenner & Block LLP, and then in the tax-advantaged investing group of the real estate department at SNR Denton (formerly known as Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal), where he was a frequent speaker at national conferences on New Markets Tax Credits.

During his time as a lawyer in private practice, Mr. Readey maintained an active pro bono practice working with The Law Project, the community economic development initiative of the Committee. Jody Adler, director of the Law Project, said "Jay has been a tireless advocate for nonprofits in the community development world, and we are looking forward to new opportunities under his leadership." Mr. Readey teaches as an adjunct professor of community economic development law at DePaul Law School, and was a member of the founding young lawyers' leadership team of the Housing and Community Development Forum of the American Bar Association. Mr. Readey is a graduate of Yale University and received his law degree from the Yale Law School and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.