Staff
Tonia Allison
Member Services Coordinator
Tonia Allison joined the Foundation staff as Development Processing Assistant in September 2010 and currently serves as the organization's Member Services Coordinator. Before coming to Public Justice, Tonia had three years of gift processing experience with the United States Naval Academy Foundatio Read More...
Paula Athey
Legal Assistant
Paula Athey assists Senior Attorneys Adele Kimmel and Neil Levine, Debtors' Prison Project Attorney Brian Hardingham, Director of the Environmental Enforcement Project Jim Hecker, Kazan Budd Staff Attorney Alexandra Brodskey, and legal fellows Rodolfo Padilla and Adrienne Spiegel. She manages the Read More...
Leslie Bailey
Director, Debtors' Prison Project & Senior Attorney
Leslie A. Bailey is a senior attorney in Public Justice’s Oakland, California office, and Director of the organization's Debtors' Prison Project. Leslie litigates complex public interest cases and appeals involving civil rights and liberties, consumer protection, and court secrecy. She has briefed Read More...
F. Paul Bland, Jr.
Executive Director
F. Paul Bland, Jr., Executive Director, manages and leads Public Justice's legal and foundation staff, guiding the organization’s litigation docket and other advocacy. Paul has argued and won more than 40 cases that led to reported decisions for consumers, employees or whistleblowers, including Read More...
Alexandra Brodsky
Kazan Budd Staff Attorney
Alexandra Brodsky is the Kazan Budd Staff Attorney at Public Justice. She litigates civil rights cases concerning harassment and other forms of discrimination against students, the criminalization of poverty, and qualified immunity. Before joining Public Justice, Alexandra clerked for the Honorab Read More...
Leslie A. Brueckner
Senior Attorney
Leslie A. Brueckner is a Senior Attorney at Public Justice, where she specializes in cutting-edge appellate litigation in the state and federal courts. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and summa cum laude graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Leslie’s current areas of practice include clas Read More...
Randy Chen
Food Project Staff Attorney
Randy Chen is a Food Project Staff Attorney with Public Justice in Washington, D.C. His work focuses on impact litigation to support communities harmed by the industrial animal agricultural system and promote sustainable alternatives. Prior to joining Public Justice, Randy served for three years Read More...
Jessica Culpepper
Food Project Director
Jessica Culpepper is Director of Public Justice's Food Project. Before joining Public Justice, Jessica was a Barker Fellow and Staff Attorney at the Humane Society of the United States in the Farm Animal Welfare Division. There she worked primarily on fighting pollution from Concentrated Ani Read More...
Margaret B. Davis
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Margaret B. Davis, Director of Strategic Partnerships, joined Public Justice in May 2020. In her prior leadership roles at non-profit organizations, she built a strong track record of deepening the public’s investment in the mission and work of numerous causes. Margaret’s commitment to social Read More...
Karla Gilbride
Cartwright-Baron Senior Attorney
Karla Gilbride joined Public Justice in October 2014 as our Cartwright-Baron staff attorney. Her work focuses on fighting mandatory arbitration provisions imposed on consumers and workers to prevent them from holding corporations accountable for their wrongdoing in court. She has testified bef Read More...
Susan Gombert
Senior Meetings & Events Manager
Susan Gombert, CMP is Senior Meetings & Events Manager at the Public Justice Foundation. She is responsible for all aspects of the Foundation's meetings and special events, and is a staff liaison to the Foundation's Gala Committee. Prior to joining Public Justice, Susan was the Membership Dir Read More...
Brian Hardingham
Debtors' Prison Project Attorney
Brian Hardingham is based in the Oakland, California office of Public Justice. Before joining Public Justice, Brian clerked for Judge Jane Stranch on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Cormac Carney in the Central District of California. Brian also spent a year and a half doing pretrial a Read More...
John He
Skadden Fellow, Debtors' Prison Project
John He is a Skadden Fellow at Public Justice's Debtors' Prison Project. A Bay Area native, John is based out of our office in Oakland, California, where he litigates cases involving the criminalization of poverty. Before joining Public Justice, John served as a law clerk for the Honorable Marsha Read More...
Jim Hecker
Director, Environmental Enforcement Project
Jim Hecker, Environmental Enforcement Project Director at Public Justice, received an undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Illinois, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Jim received his J.D., magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law. He earned distinctions Read More...
Leroy Hughes, Jr.
Director of Operations
Leroy Hughes, Jr. joined Public Justice in March 2020. Leroy’s primary responsibility includes oversight of operations, human resources, information and technology as well as administrative services supporting the organization’s east and west coast offices. Prior to joining Public Justice, Leroy Read More...
Sara Jex
Development Communications Associate
Sara Jex is the Development Communications Associate. She is responsible for drafting donor correspondence, maintaining development-related social media posts, and supporting our fundraising program. She joined Public Justice’s Washington, D.C. office in March 2021. Sara previously interned wit Read More...
Adele P. Kimmel
Director, Students’ Civil Rights Project & Senior Attorney
Adele P. Kimmel, Director of Public Justice’s Students’ Civil Rights Project and Senior Attorney, is based in the DC Headquarters of Public Justice. Since joining the law firm in 1994, Adele has worked on wide range of civil rights cases, representing prisoners and immigrant detainees who were b Read More...
Megan Kyte
Membership Manager
Megan Kyte joined Public Justice in June 2019 and currently serves as the organization’s Membership Manager. Prior to joining Public Justice, Megan was the Senior Development Associate at The Arc of the United States, an organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the human rights of people Read More...
Neil Levine
Senior Attorney, Environmental Enforcement Project
Neil Levine is a senior attorney on Public Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Project. He joined Public Justice in December 2017 after spending 25 years representing national organizations and community groups throughout the country on a wide range of environmental issues. Neil previously serv Read More...
Kathleen Morris
Legal Assistant/Operations Coordinator
Kathleen Morris joined Public Justice in January 2012 and currently serves as Legal Assistant/Operations Coordinator, based in our West Coast office. Prior to coming to Public Justice, Kathy worked as a paralegal for a small civil litigation practice which represented clients in a wide variety of Read More...
David Muraskin
Food Project Litigation Director
David S. Muraskin is a Food Project Senior Attorney with Public Justice in Washington, D.C. He focuses on impact litigation to promote sustainable alternatives to the industrial animal agriculture system. His docket consists of constitutional, consumer, worker, and environmental cases. Of part Read More...
Brent Newell
Food Project Senior Attorney
Brent Newell is a Food Project Senior Attorney with Public Justice in Oakland, California, where he works with the Food Project team to reform the industrial animal agriculture system, support impacted communities, and promote sustainable alternatives. Prior to joining Public Justice in 2018, Bre Read More...
Victoria W. Ni
Director of Finance & Administration
Victoria W. Ni, Director of Finance & Administration, is based in the Oakland, Calif., office of Public Justice. Prior to her current role with the organization, Vicky litigated a wide range of cases focused on protecting and ensuring the rights of consumers, workers, victims, and individuals Read More...
Leah M. Nicholls
Senior Attorney
Leah M. Nicholls is a Senior Attorney in Public Justice’s Washington, DC headquarters. Leah litigates high-impact civil public interest cases at the trial and appellate levels, including cases involving access to courts, court secrecy, consumer protection, and Public Justice’s Food Project. She Read More...
Ellen Noble
Staff Attorney
Ellen Noble is a staff attorney at Public Justice’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. She litigates high-impact public interest cases at the trial and appellate court levels concerning access to courts, court secrecy, consumer protection, workers’ rights, civil rights, and gender-based violence. El Read More...
Aidan O’Shea
Director of Communications
Aidan O’Shea, Public Justice's Director of Communications, is responsible for expanding the reach of the organization's work and oversees Public Justice's messaging strategy, press outreach and other communications efforts, including website content, social media, and video production. He joined P Read More...
Karen Ocamb
Director of Media Relations
Karen Ocamb is the Director of Media Relations. She is an award-winning journalist who, upon graduating from Skidmore College, started her professional career at CBS News in New York where she clerked for such luminaries as Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Bob Schieffer. Her last assignment was prod Read More...
Peter Pieh
External Affairs Project Manager
Peter is the External Affairs Project Manager. Prior to joining Public Justice, Peter was the Economic Justice Specialist with the National Network to End Domestic Violence. At NNEDV Peter managed the regulatory compliance of the Independence Project, a micro lending project aimed at providing finan Read More...
Steve Ralls
Director of External Affairs
Steve Ralls, Director of External Affairs, first joined Public Justice in April 2015 as the organization's Director of Communications. In his current role, Steve oversees Public Justice's communications and development teams, which are responsible for the organization's media, marketing, outreach &a Read More...
Lisa Reed
Food Project Paralegal
Lisa Reed joined Public Justice in 2019 as the Food Project paralegal, supporting the Food Project in all aspects of their work. Before joining Public Justice, Lisa worked as a litigation and government contracts paralegal. She received her Master’s Degree in Political Science from Boston College. Read More...
Ameesha Sampat
Food Project Organizing Director
Ameesha Sampat, Food Project Organizing Director, is responsible developing and overseeing the Food Project’s organizing and outreach strategies. She joined Public Justice’s Washington, D.C. office in October of 2017. Prior to joining Public Justice, Ameesha managed digital strategies at Asia Read More...
Norma Sapp
Office and Human Resources Manager
Norma Sapp is the Office and Human Resources Manager, located in Public Justice's DC headquarters. Norma has spent much of her career managing office operations for both non-profit organizations and for-profit companies in the Washington, D.C. area. Read More...
Lucy Sears
Communications Associate
Lucy Sears, Public Justice’s Communications Associate, assists the Communications team with the organization’s messaging strategy, media outreach and other communications efforts. Lucy previously served as the Communications Coordinator for the National Association of Conservation Districts ( Read More...
Stephanie Shannon
Management Team Executive Assistant
Stephanie Shannon joined Public Justice’s West Coast Office in June 2018 as the Executive Assistant to the Chairman. Prior to coming to Public Justice, Stephanie completed her Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization at the European Inter-University Center in Venice, Italy, where she Read More...
Kelly Simon
Development Director
Kelly Simon joined the Public Justice staff as Director of Development in October 2017. Prior to beginning this role, Kelly served as the Director of Development for the Pro Bono Institute, a legal organization dedicated to enhancing and strengthening pro bono programs of large law firms and legal d Read More...
Kristina Sinclair
Food Project Fellow
Kristina is Public Justice’s Food Project Fellow. She supports the Food Project’s efforts to dismantle corporate control of the food system through movement-oriented impact litigation. While in law school, Kristina was an Articles Editor for the California Law Review. She also partici Read More...
Kellan Smith
Food Project Associate Attorney
Kellan Smith is a Food Project Associate Attorney with Public Justice in Washington, D.C. where he supports the efforts of the Project to thwart corporate oppression inherent in the industrial animal agriculture system. Prior to joining Public Justice in 2019, Kellan was a Staff Attorney at the C Read More...
Adrienne Spiegel
Seneca Falls Fellow
Adrienne Spiegel is Public Justice’s Seneca Falls Fellow, based in the Oakland office. She focuses on protecting civil rights, in part by litigating cases challenging state violence, and harassment in schools. Before law school, Adrienne worked as a paralegal for the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Proje Read More...
Yvonne Stewart
Legal Assistant
Yvonne Stewart joined Public Justice in 2011 as a Legal Assistant. She assists Executive Director Paul Bland, Senior Attorney Leah Nicholls, Cartwright-Baron Senior Attorney Karla Gilbride, and Access to Justice Attorney Stevie Glaberson on their many public-interest cases. Yvonne has over 25 yea Read More...
Tammy W. Sun
Managing Attorney
Tammy Sun is the Managing Attorney at Public Justice, based in the Washington, DC office. Tammy has worked as a civil rights attorney litigating prison conditions cases in the South and served as a public defender in Washington, DC and Oregon. Prior to joining Public Justice, Tammy managed and d Read More...
Masha Vernik
Food Project Communications and Organizing Coordinator
Masha Vernik is the Food Project Communications and Organizing Coordinator. She crafts strategic narratives and builds power with affected communities to build a regenerative, humane, and independently owned food system. Prior to joining Public Justice, Masha was the Food Policy Advisor with Peace R Read More...