Legal nonprofit We The Action announces new advisory council of leading legal voices


Washington, D.C. — Legal nonprofit We The Action has announced a new advisory council of eight prominent lawyers from across the nonprofit, academic and private sectors to help shape the work of the nonprofit’s community of more than 45,000 volunteer lawyers and 550 nonprofit organizations.

A part of the Civic Nation ecosystem, We The Action is the nation’s leading network mobilizing lawyers to advance access to justice through pro bono work.

By connecting lawyers from across the country with nonprofit organizations working on the most pressing issues facing the nation, the We The Action community is strengthening democracy, defending immigrant communities, advancing gender equity and racial justice and more.

Since its launch in 2017, We The Action’s lawyers have donated more than 275,000 hours in free legal services worth more than $115 million.

“Addressing the access to justice gap is one the most important tasks we face to ensure our democracy delivers for all," said Dana Remus,
former Assistant to the President and White House Counsel and Chair of the new We The Action Advisory Council.

 "That’s why I’m excited to be leading We The Action’s Advisory Council. We The Action has already effectively mobilized tens of thousands of lawyers from across the country, proving that when a community of lawyers works together, they can build a more just and equitable nation.”

We The Action’s new Advisory Council will include:

Advisory Council Chair Dana Remus — Partner, Covington & Burling LLP

Ilona Cohen — Chief Legal & Policy Officer, HackerOne

Josh Hsu — Partner, Jenner & Block LLP

Astri Kimball Van Dyke — Director, Google

Jonathan Kravis — Partner, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP

Professor Spencer Overton — Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law, George Washington University

Robert Rivkin — Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, United Airlines

Professor Cristina Rodriguez — Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law, Yale Law School

“We The Action was founded on the fundamental belief that lawyers have the power to be an engine for change and a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable, fight for justice and defend our values,” said Anna Chu, Executive Director of We The Action.

“With the visionary leadership of these accomplished lawyers from across the legal profession, We The Action is poised to continue our work towards a future where everyone — regardless of their race, income, ZIP code or any other factor — can get the legal support they need.”

This new council launches as We The Action focuses on expanding the hands-on support that its community of volunteer lawyers has already provided to nonprofits and individuals nationwide. For instance:

A strong democracy requires that everyone has the ability to make their voice heard at every level of government. That’s why 3,500 volunteer lawyers donated more than 45,000 hours to 36 organizations to make the 2022 midterm elections safe, secure, and accessible for every voter.

Reproductive freedom has been under attack both in the courts and in statehouses nationwide, and lawyers play a critical role in defending this human right. In the days following the Supreme Court’s devastating decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, 220 lawyers volunteered to help abortion providers expand or modify services, track abortion-related bills, serve as legal observers at protests and more.

The American immigration system is nearly impossible to navigate for our immigrant neighbors who live in fear of deportation — or worse.

That’s why We The Action partnered with a coalition led by the law firm Akin Gump to mobilize 150 lawyers who donated more than 3,000 hours to help nearly 3,000 migrants prepare for interviews with the government.

In 2022, 4.6 million people were denied the right to vote due to a previous felony conviction. Since 2020, 500 We The Action volunteers have volunteered with the Nobel Prize-nominated Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to research more than 15,000 cases for Floridians with previous felony convictions and help them navigate the labyrinth of red tape and fees to regain their voting rights.

Systemic racism permeates every level of the American legal system and We The Action lawyers are committed to breaking down barriers that disproportionately harm communities of color wherever they exist. One We The Action volunteer lawyer donated hundreds of hours to help a DC-based nonprofit successfully challenge the “Clean Hands Law,” an unfair fines and fees policy that exacerbated racial inequalities in a city where the median net worth of a white household is 81 times higher than the median net worth of a Black household.

“Every day, I’m awestruck by the impact that We The Action and its community of 45,000 volunteer lawyers and 550 nonprofit partners make on the most pressing issues facing the nation,” said Kyle Lierman, CEO of Civic Nation.

“With the leadership of this new Advisory Council, We The Action and Civic Nation will continue building a more inclusive, equitable America.”

This new advisory council will focus on strengthening We The Action’s community of volunteer lawyers; deepening We The Action’s work on key priority issues like democracy and voting rights, gender and reproductive equity, racial justice, and immigration; and expanding into new issue areas to support underrepresented communities with free legal support.

We The Action is a community of nonprofit organizations and volunteer lawyers, working together to advance social justice.

More than 45,000 lawyers have joined We The Action to apply their specialized skills and experience to more than 500 nonprofit organizations working on our nation’s most pressing problems — protecting voting rights, advocating for racial justice, defending immigrant communities, advancing gender equity and reproductive rights, and more.

We The Action is an initiative of Civic Nation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Civic Nation is a nonprofit ecosystem for high-impact organizing and education initiatives working to build a more inclusive and equitable America. Civic Nation shifts culture, systems, and policy by bringing together individuals, grassroots organizers, industry leaders and influencers to tackle some of our nation’s most pressing social challenges.

Seven initiatives are a part of the Civic Nation family: When We All Vote, United State of Women, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, End Rape On Campus, It’s On Us, We The Action, and the Change Collective.