White House Ceremony Features LLS Representatives
LMU Loyola Law School was among the institutions recognized for responding to the Attorney General’s Call to Action to the Legal Profession to address the housing and eviction crisis, and help increase housing stability and access to justice in their communities, during a White House ceremony. The virtual event was held on Friday, Jan. 28.
Biden Administration senior officials participating included Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff; Attorney General Merrick Garland; Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General of the United States; Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo; and Gene Sperling, Senior Advisor to the President, American Rescue Plan Coordinator.
LLS participants included Dean Michael Waterstone; Liz Bluestein, Executive Director, Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic; Sara Campos, Director, Loyola Center for Conflict Resolution (LCCR); and Alexandra Pogonat, Assistant Director, LCCR Assistant Director. They were joined by LLS students Anita Chirinian and Patricia Ortega, LCCR students who assisted in creating the Landlord/Tenant Options Counseling Project, and Stefan Ecklund, who has worked in the Conciliation & Mediation Assistance Clinic (C-MAC) and Shriver Landlord Tenant Clinic.
“I called on you as members of the legal community to use your education, experience and time to help the most vulnerable of us,” Garland told the law professors, students and clinic attorneys. “Today we are celebrating the way in which you answered the call. Law students and lawyers throughout the country stepped up to help families facing eviction to help them keep their homes.”
Emhoff echoed his sentiments. “Thank you to the law school deans, clinical professors, lawyers and law students. You have all amplified the importance of access to justice,” he said. “Like all problems facing this country, the pandemic has magnified problems.”