Executive Director, Equal Justice Works
David Stern is Chief Executive Officer for Equal Justice Works. He is responsible for articulating the vision for the organization, working with the Board of Directors to develop the strategic directions for the organization, raising necessary funds, and ensuring the overall health of the organization. He joined the staff in 1992 as the first Director of the Fellowships program, and became Executive Director in June 1995. Since then, the organization’s budget has grown from roughly $1.5 million to $8 million, the staff has grown from eight to 36, the number of postgraduate fellowships has grown from roughly 20 to more than 100; and more than 95 percent of ABA-accredited schools are members of Equal Justice Works.
Mr. Stern graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1985 and clerked for two federal judges in Baltimore. He then worked for a small public interest law firm that represented whistleblowers in government and private industry, as well as individuals discriminated against on the basis of their sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
The genius in the program is the bringing together of the lawyer into the medical clinic where these problems surface, which enables the doctor to include the legal remedy as part of the medical treatment. No longer is the doctor limited by the scope of his practice, and the lawyer is introduced to the problem in its most apparent manifestation.
David W. Hilgers, Chair of ABA’s Health Law Section