Join us for an insightful panel event focusing on civil rights and civil liberties through the lens of public interest law and pro bono service. This event brings together distinguished legal experts and dedicated advocates who will share their experiences and perspectives on safeguarding fundamental freedoms and promoting social justice. Discover how pro bono efforts are making a significant impact in the fight for equality and learn about the ongoing challenges and opportunities in the realm of civil rights advocacy. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with leaders in the field and deepen your understanding of these critical issues. The Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Panel is on Thursday, June 27 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm ET. Register here to join the virtual conversation. 

Aman Sidhu will moderate this panel. Aman is a Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP and represents clients with compliance concerns, regulatory challenges, internal and government investigations, and high-stakes disputes in the health care and life sciences industries. Aman is also a co-founder of the Sikh Coalition, the largest civil and human rights non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to protecting the interests of the Sikh community. He has led lobbying efforts in the U.S. Congress regarding hate crimes, profiling, workplace, and public accommodation discrimination, and also serves as lead counsel in an ongoing effort to end the U.S. military’s presumptive ban on the service of Sikhs and other religious minorities who maintain religious beards, unshorn hair, and wear turbans – among other articles of faith. 

The panel includes:

Marlene Sallo, National Disability Rights Network

Marlene is the first woman, first Latina, and first person with a disability to lead the National Disability Rights Network. She believes that amplifying where disability intersects with other identities such as LGBTQIA+, non-native English speakers, and Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color is critical component of successful advocacy. Before joining NDRN, Sallo served as Director of Preventing Targeted Violence at the McCain Institute for International Leadership.  She previously served for almost four years as executive director of the Massachusetts Disability Law Center (DLC), the federally designated Protection and Advocacy agency for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Earlier in her career, Sallo was an education attorney with Disability Rights Florida, providing protection and advocacy to students with disabilities and children in the state’s child welfare system.

Antonio Ingram II, Legal Defense Fund

Antonio serves as Assistant Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, where he works on cases and matters that advance racial justice in educational equity and political participation. Antonio has both litigation and policy experience. He has served as part of the litigation team in South Carolina NAACP v. Alexander, a federal lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s racially discriminatory Congressional and state House legislative maps. Antonio also  successfully engaged in policy advocacy and spearheaded a campaign to oppose legislation banning critical race theory, tenure and diversity, equity and inclusion through implementing media strategies, organizing faculty and students and submitting both written and oral testimony before the Texas State House and Texas State Senate.

Maria Morris, American Civil Liberties Union

Maria is a Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s National Prison Project, where she litigates on behalf of people incarcerated throughout the country. She has extensive experience in the field. She led the successful litigation against the Alabama Department of Corrections for its failure to provide constitutionally adequate mental health care and accommodations for persons with disabilities. She was also a member of the overcrowding trial team in Brown v. Plata. Prior to joining the ACLU, Maria was a Supervising Staff Attorney the Southern Poverty Law Center, an associate with Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfeld, LLP, and a law clerk Judge William Canby of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Maria graduated from Emory University School of Law and Barnard College.

Janson Wu, The Trevor Project

Janson Wu joined The Trevor Project in 2023 as the Senior Director of State Advocacy and Government Affairs, overseeing all of Trevor’s proactive and defensive state legislative work across the U.S. Janson previously served as a staff attorney and then Executive Director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates (GLAD). While at GLAD, Janson served on the legal team challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), helped win multiple state campaigns securing marriage equality and transgender rights, and led the organization during its historic victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges. Janson is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He is a recipient of the American Constitution Society’s David Carliner Public Interest Award.