Public Justice Executive Director Paul Bland Announces Plan to Step Down in 2024
For Immediate Release
May 8, 2023
Contact: Lucy Sears
(240) 676-4499 | lsears@publicjustice.net
Public Justice Executive Director Paul Bland Announces Plan to Step Down in 2024
Bland Oversaw Transformation of Organization’s Focus, Mission and Success
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Public Justice executive director Paul Bland, a renowned litigator and nationally respected authority on preserving class litigation and fighting forced arbitration announced that he plans to step down from the organization in May 2024, ten years after taking the helm of the national legal advocacy nonprofit.
Paul first joined Public Justice in 1997 as a staff attorney before becoming executive director in 2014. Since then, he has played a pivotal role in the organization’s growth and success over the last two decades, expanding Public Justice’s litigation docket and advocacy work, doubling the staff size to include respected communications, outreach, finance and operational personnel working in support of the organization’s mission and tripling Public Justice’s budget in support of an ambitious vision focused on sweeping, systemic change through victories in the nation’s courts and in the court of public opinion.
“Working at Public Justice has been a wondrous professional experience,” said Paul. “I have gotten to work with incredibly smart and dedicated people who are strategically and energetically trying to make the world a more just place. I am just so grateful for this amazing opportunity, and am very proud of our very substantial accomplishments. And while it is time for me to put aside this executive role and return to appellate litigation, I will continue to strongly support this amazing team as they move forward with a new leader.”
Since his start at Public Justice, Paul has significantly raised the impact and visibility of Public Justice, testifying in both houses of Congress, several state legislatures and administrative agencies, while increasing the organization’s outreach and national profile, presenting at more than 100 continuing legal education or professional conferences in more than 25 states.
From overseeing development of the organization’s recently adopted strategic directions plan, to diversifying and growing Public Justice’s advocacy work and outreach to include partnerships with grassroots organizations and coalitions, Paul’s leadership has been instrumental in advancing the litigation and advocacy goals of the organization, evolving Public Justice from a public interest law firm into a leading national nonprofit advocacy organization.
Under Paul’s leadership, Public Justice has won multiple precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court victories, including his own successful Supreme Court argument in Home Depot v. Jackson. As executive director, Paul has also helped advance the profile and work of the organization’s various strategic litigation projects, including the recent launch of the Debtors’ Prison Project and the first-of-its-kind Food Project that works to strengthen communities and change the food system through cutting-edge, movement-oriented litigation. He has also significantly raised the profile of the organization’s core Access to Justice work, developing a case docket and track record that has focused on ensuring the country’s courts are open and accessible to all.
“Paul’s many years with Public Justice have been extraordinary, and during the last nine years under Paul’s leadership as executive director, we have seen growth and strong delivery of the mission of Public Justice under his careful and kind stewardship,” said Public Justice Board President Thomas Sobol. “Although we will miss him greatly, we are lucky in that he will be leaving a stronger and more vibrant organization ready to take on tomorrow’s new challenges.”
“Public Justice, our clients, and this country have greatly benefited from Paul’s leadership, and we are beyond grateful for his years of service to the organization,” said Public Justice Board President-Elect Preston Tisdale. “It has been both a pleasure and an honor working with Paul, and we wish him continued success as he embarks on this new chapter of his journey fighting for justice.”
Prior to joining Public Justice, Paul served as Chief Nominations Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and worked for nearly seven years with Kieron F. Quinn in Baltimore, Maryland, where he handled consumer and toxic tort class actions and defended libel lawsuits. Since the start of his career, Paul has argued and won more than 40 cases in six of the U.S. Court of Appeals and the high courts of ten different states on behalf of the country’s consumers, employees, and whistleblowers, including a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Public Justice Foundation’s Board of Directors will soon launch a national search for a new executive director.
# # #
Public Justice takes on the biggest systemic threats to justice of our time – abusive corporate power and predatory practices, the assault on civil rights and liberties, and the destruction of the earth’s sustainability. We connect high-impact litigation with strategic communications and the strength of our partnerships to fight these abusive and discriminatory systems and win social and economic justice. For more information, visit www.PublicJustice.net.
