A Year-End Message from Equal Justice Works CEO Verna Williams

With 2024 soon in the rearview mirror, I’m proud of the remarkable milestones Equal Justice Works has achieved this year. Working with our vast and varied partners we’ve done more than just mobilize hundreds of Fellows. We’ve made strides to advance a legal system that is fair, just, and available to anyone, no matter their ability to pay. 

Our Fellows provided much-needed assistance to communities in need

Working on projects across the country, Fellows made their impact felt on such matters as voting rights, tenant protections, advocacy for victims of crime, and disaster response and preparedness. Because of the many who supported our Fellows and programs, we: 

• Mobilized 238 new Fellows in 33 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC across programs.
• Supported the Housing Justice Fellow Class of 2022 who completed their Fellowship this year and successfully prevented or delayed 7,518 evictions and secured over $4.2 million in benefits for families at risk of being displaced.
• Dispatched 50 Rural Summer Legal Corps Student Fellows who, over the course of their program, collectively contributed 15,000 hours to help rural communities.

We grew our nationwide movement for equal access to justice

Advancing our mission of equal justice requires partnerships, and I’m proud to say collaboration is deep in our DNA. We work with public and private sectors, serve urban and rural communities, and engage public servants at all levels of government. This year was no different, as we:   

• Partnered with the Law School Survey of Student Engagement to determine how law students learn about public interest careers. We shared our results in a briefing report and at a webinar for over 100 law school professionals. 
• Hosted the nation’s largest public interest career fair—with over 3,800 law students and 250 employers. 
• Established a new alumni-Fellow mentorship program led by the Alumni Advisory Council.  

We celebrated exemplary efforts in public interest at our annual gala  

• Honored two rock stars: Susan Alexander, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Biogen and Fellow alumni Ahilan Arulanantham of UCLA Law at the 2024 Scales of Justice event.

Our staff made waves in their own communities

We are exceptionally proud of the community work our team does in and out of the office. For example, our colleague Richard Luong, Director of Institutional Advancement, joined the newest class of National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Leadership Advancement Program fellows. Linda Anderson Stanley, Director of Fellowships, was named a Business of Pride Honoree for her advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Portfolio Manager Natanya Pope-Sohel became a board member for the Black Women’s Law Association of Greater Chicago.  

Editor’s note: She does not like to toot her own horn, but Verna received the Kate Stoneman Award for her “outstanding contributions to ensuring equity and fairness in the legal profession for women of all races, ages, and regions.” In addition, check out Verna’s thought leadership in publications like Law360, Inside Philanthropy, The Wall Street Journal, and Nonprofit Quarterly just to name a few. 

We are filled with gratitude for the year ahead

As we approach the new year, I am filled with hope for the future and grateful for this holiday period of rest since 2025 promises to be one of our busiest years yet: we’re hiring six Fellows for the inaugural class of the Opioid Crisis Response Program and jumpstarting a partnership with the Texas Immigration Law Council to narrow legal service gaps for immigrants in Texas – and that’s only Q1!  

To our exceptional team members: your talent and dedication form the cornerstone of our achievements. To our Fellows, alumni, and trusted partners: your confidence in Equal Justice Works motivates us to continually innovate and improve. To our supporters: your guidance and trust drive the success and growth of our organization. Together, we will create even more memorable experiences and achieve great heights in the year ahead. 

Thank you for being an integral part of the Equal Justice Works family and for contributing to our remarkable journey. 

With health and happiness in the new year,  

Verna Williams 

CEO, Equal Justice Works