Talk Justice: Episode 92
How Can Legal Aid Hold On to Good Attorneys?
Legal aid directors from Minnesota and Arkansas discuss their multi-faceted efforts to attract and retain high-quality attorneys and other staff on Talk Justice. It’s no secret that legal aid does not lead to the highest potential salaries in the profession. While legal aid has much to offer in terms of opportunities for high-impact, rewarding work, program directors must be creative to attract and retain staff with their limited resources.
Subscribe
Listen to this episode on the following platforms
Listen
Guest Speakers
Lee Richardson became a Legal Aid staff attorney in 1991. He has served in several capacities including managing attorney, litigation director, and deputy director. Lee has been Executive Director of Legal Aid of Arkansas for the past two decades. He is an ex-officio member of the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission and serves on the Arkansas Bar Association Law School Committee. He has two children, Victor, General Counsel at Acxiom, and Sabrina, a pet care professional.
Dori Rapaport is the Executive Director of Justice North (formerly Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota). Since 2017, Dori has led Justice North through continuous transformation to effectively serve its 27,000 square mile region of Minnesota through use of technology, process improvement, and coordination with statewide justice partners.
Host
Ronald S. Flagg was appointed President of the Legal Services Corporation effective February 20, 2020, and previously served as Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel since 2013. He previously practiced commercial and administrative litigation at Sidley Austin LLP for 31 years, 27 years as a partner. He chaired the firm’s Committee on Pro Bono and Public Interest Law for more than a decade.
Flagg served as president of the District of Columbia Bar in 2010-2011 and currently serves as Chair of the Bar’s Pro Bono Task Force. He presently also chairs the board of the National Veterans Legal Services Program. He has also served as Chair of the District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Committee, Chair of the Board of the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly, as a member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, on LSC’s Pro Bono Task Force, and as a member of the Board of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, the Board of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Foundation, and the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission.
Flagg graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and cum laude from Harvard Law School. He began his career as a law clerk to Judge Myron L. Gordon, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and as attorney-advisor in the United States Department of Justice, Office of Intelligence Policy.