Andrew Young, Hank Aaron, and Jim Harbaugh Meet in Atlanta to Discuss LSC’s Leaders Council

ATLANTA – Former United Nations Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, baseball great Hank Aaron, and other prominent Atlantans will join University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh tomorrow for a morning meeting to discuss the Legal Services Corporation’s (LSC) newly formed Leaders Council. 

The goal of the Leaders Council is to raise public awareness of the current crisis in civil legal aid. Council members are leaders from across the United States who understand the barriers low-income Americans face in accessing the civil justice system.

Young, Aaron, and Harbaugh are members of the Council.

“I have spent my life working for equal rights, so I am more than happy to join the efforts of LSC’s Leaders Council to support free civil legal aid for low-income Americans,” said Young. “Everyone should have access to justice, regardless of income.”

Others at the Leaders Council morning meeting will include former LSC Board Chair and member of the council Frank B. Strickland, a partner with Strickland Brockington Lewis LLP, and Allan Tanenbaum, Of Counsel to Taylor English Duma LLP. They are both members of LSC’s Institutional Advancement Committee.

Following the morning meeting, Aaron, Harbaugh, and Young will attend an elite football camp held at Maynard Jackson High School.

These three join nearly 50 individuals on the Leaders Council working to advance access to justice across the country. 

“Each year, millions of low-income Americans are denied equal access to justice because they cannot afford a lawyer. We need to change that,” Aaron explained. “I’m looking forward to joining LSC’s Leaders Council to help ensure fairness in our system of justice.”

Legal aid groups are typically forced to turn away at least fifty percent of people seeking help. Unable to obtain legal assistance, many Americans must go it alone on critical civil matters, from evictions to child custody cases. The Leaders Council will help draw national attention to the need to support civil legal aid, expanding LSC’s reach to new communities.

Kenneth C. Frazier, CEO of pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., and Harriet Miers, a partner at Locke Lord and former White House Counsel to President George W. Bush, serve as co-chairs of the Leaders Council.

“Continued improvement in expanding meaningful access to our justice system for low-income individuals and families is essential to fulfilling America’s promise of ‘justice for all,’” Miers said. “The strength of our country’s justice system and our people’s faith in that system requires progress.”

For a full list of the members of the Leaders Council, visit https://lsc40.lsc.gov/leaders-council/. A photo opportunity will be available at 9 a.m. at Maynard Jackson High School, 801 Glenwood Avenue.