By Christina Jackson

One of the most pressing priorities for the public-interest community today is the protection of the besieged rights of those who came to American seeking freedom, safety, and a better life. Our recognition of that present-day priority is reflected by our recognition of Ayuda’s Lindsy Miles-Hare as our 2018 Legal Services Award Recipient.

As the Pro Bono Managing Attorney at Ayuda, Lindsy brings together lawyers, coordinates social and language services, and offers training and outreach to volunteers in the DC metropolitan area. Throughout her career, Lindsy has worked tirelessly and with to secure access to justice for of low-income individuals. Due to Lindsy’s advocacy and skills, thousands of clients have been protected from eviction, deportation, and loss of critical public benefits.

At Ayuda, Lindsy has built the infrastructure for a pro bono program that enables it to serve hundreds of additional clients each year – and to provide excellent legal services to every client. Since 2017, Lindsy has managed seventeen (17) free immigration consultation clinics, providing critical advice to at least 400 clients and benefiting more than 1,100 family members. Moreover, many of those individuals were subsequently provided comprehensive immigration legal services through Ayuda’s pro bono pipeline, which Lindsy also has improved and expanded upon in her time at Ayuda.

Prior to joining Ayuda, Lindsy served as the Public Benefits Managing Attorney of the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, where she managed the Immigration Legal Advice and Referral Clinic, the Health Care Access Project, co-managed the Advocacy & Justice Clinic, and staffed the Landlord & Tenant Resource Center. Her responsibilities included managing free brief advice clinics which connected hundreds of clients each year with free legal advice on a range of civil legal matters. Lindsy connected more than 300 clients per year with pro bono lawyers for full representation. Lindsy then provided critical subject matter expertise for all housing and public benefits cases, enabling the pro bono lawyers to step outside of their usual practice areas and provide vulnerable District residents with the excellent legal representation that they deserved and needed.

Lindsy approaches her work with extraordinary joy, care, and respect for her clients. She is empathetic and passionate for the work of helping others, and her enthusiasm is infectious.  She makes volunteering fun and fulfilling, and allows countless lawyers the opportunity to contribute in a positive way to the lives of DC residents. Lindsy exemplifies the best the legal services community has to offer.

Too many of our fellow citizens (who also are the descendants of immigrants) have become all too willing to turn away from the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. At this time, as never before, we believe it is important to stand with those who ask only what our forebears asked. And so we are particularly pleased to stand with Lindsy by bestowing on her our 2018 Legal Services Award.

Learn more about Lindsy and the other award recipients at our 2018 Awards Ceremony.

Christina Jackson is the Deputy Director of Washington Council of Lawyers.