BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Edward P. Lazarus, Chair
Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
After receiving his JD from Yale University, Mr. Lazarus served as a law clerk to the Honorable William A. Norris on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and thereafter to Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Lazarus now divides his time between law practice, writing, and teaching. As practitioner, Mr. Lazarus founded Akin Gump's national appellate practice and is a member of the firm's management committee. Mr. Lazarus's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and The Atlantic Monthly, among other venues. He is also the author of two highly acclaimed books: Black Hills/White Justice: The Sioux Nation vs. the United States, 1775 to the Present and Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall and Future of the Supreme Court. Mr. Lazarus also serves on several boards of directors, including Public Counsel.

Richard E. Drooyan, Member
Partner, Munger Tolles & Olsen LLP
Prior to joining Munger Tolles & Olsen as a litigation partner, Mr. Drooyan was the Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, responsible for oversight and management of over 200 government lawyers and support staff in the Criminal, Civil and Tax Divisions. Mr. Drooyan has served as President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, General Counsel of the Rampart Independent Review Panel, and Deputy Counsel of the Christopher Commission. A former member of the Boards of Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Inner City Law Center and the Lawyer's Counsel of CRF, Mr. Drooyan is currently on the Board of the Western Center on Law and Poverty and the Board of Trustees of Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times.

Paul L. Freese, Jr., Member
Director of Litigation & Advocacy, Public Counsel
As Director of Litigation and Advocacy for Public Counsel, the public interest law office of the Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills Bar Associations and the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the United States, Mr. Freese supervises more than 30 attorneys and their staff. He previously served as Directing Attorney of the Homelessness Prevention Law Project and currently serves as Interim CEO of Public Counsel. Prior to joining Public Counsel, Mr. Freese was a litigation associate with the law firm of Perkins Coie. Mr. Freese serves on many committees, task forces and working groups focused upon the needs of the poor and marginalized. These include the ABA Commission on Homelessness & Poverty, the Board of Directors for the Legal Aid Association of California, the L.A. County Transition Age Youth subcommittee for the Mental Health Services Act, the Leadership Committee of the Emancipation Planning Partnership for L.A. County, the Juvenile Court Task Force of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA), Imagine L.A. and the Executive Committee of the LACBA Individual Rights Section. Mr. Freese was awarded the Antonia Hernandez Public Interest Award from UCLA School of Law and was commended by the County Commission for Children & Family Services for his contributions to efforts to assist the health and welfare of L.A.'s disadvantaged youth. He was also recognized with the Community Corazones Unidos Award for outstanding community service and received a commendation from the Commission for Public Social Services for policy work benefiting homeless individuals.

John Hatakeyama, Member
Former Deputy Director, Child, Youth and Family Program Administration, LA County Mental Health Department
After more than 30 years in the mental health field, Mr. Hatakeyama recently retired as Deputy Director of the Child, Youth and Family Program Administration of the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department. He was previously District Chief of the Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Center as well as Program Director of the Youth Services Center, MacLaren Children Center. Mr. Hatakeyama has served on numerous boards committees, task forces, and commissions. He was an officer of the California Mental Health Advocates for Children and Youth (CMHACY); Member of the Board of Directors and Vice-Chair of the Statewide Children's System of Care Committee for the California Mental Health Directors Association; and Chair of the Southern Counties Children Coordinators. Mr. Hatakeyama was also CMHACY's representative on the Steering Committee for the State Department of Mental Health Managed Care; statewide Children and Adolescent Services System Program (CASSP) Advisory Committee; United Way Allocations Volunteer; Treasurer of the California Coalition for Mental Health; a Board member California Institute for Mental Health, and many other community and civic activities.

Leslie Heimov, Member
Executive Director, Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles
Ms. Heimov, a Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist, has been with Children's Law Center of Los Angeles since 1992. She served as a staff attorney and later moved to a supervising attorney position, providing oversight and training to 30 plus case carrying attorneys while continuing to handle complex and high profile cases as needed. Immediately prior to assuming her present duties, Ms. Heimov, as Policy Director, was responsible for handling CLC's legislative and policy agenda, including drafting legislation and working closely with elected officials, their staff, and other advocates to support important legislative reforms. In addition to serving as CLC Policy Director, she was Project Director of the Home At Last Initiative funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Ms. Heimov chaired a countywide Task Force on Pregnant and Parenting Teens and is a founding member of the Task Force to End Homophobia in Foster Care. She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Counsel for Children and on the National Advisory Board of the Children's Law Office Project. Ms. Heimov is a trials skills instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and regularly presents to the bench, attorneys, social workers, caregivers and law students on a multitude of topics related to the representation of abused and neglected children.

Nancy Platt Jacoby, Member
Nancy Jacoby Productions
Ms. Jacoby, an Emmy winning producer, recently served as MSNBC’s Primetime Senior Executive Producer of all Special Reports and Documentaries and also oversaw Headliners and Legends with Matt Lauer, Home Page and many other programs. Ms. Jacoby has over 25 years of journalism experience in print and broadcast news and is considered a versatile leader in the media. She has won acclaim for her writing, directing, reporting, and producing. In addition to news experience, Ms. Jacoby has been involved with a wide variety of entertainment ventures including feature films, movies of the week, entertainment, and reality-based programming. Ms. Jacoby also is active in various Los Angeles community activities, serving on the Bogart Labs Auxiliary Board at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Docent Council, the MOCA Projects Council, and as a Board Member of the University of Judaism Fine Arts Council.

Jo Kaplan, Member
Los Angeles County Probation Commission
Ms. Kaplan was one of the three founding law directors of Dependency Court Legal Services, now known as Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles. She left CLC in 1998 to accept an appointment as a juvenile court referee and now serves as a commissioner on the Los Angles County Probation Commission, appointed by Los Angeles County Supervisor Yaroslavsky. Ms. Kaplan has long been an advocate for children’s rights, starting with her career with the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office as a rookie attorney assigned to the juvenile division. Ms. Kaplan is the 2003 recipient of the Public Counsel Community Leadership Award for her work on behalf of Los Angeles County’s at-risk children.

Neal Kaufman, MD, MPH, Member
Commissioner, First 5 LA
Dr. Kaufman is Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at UCLA School of Medicine and Public Health, Co-Director of the UCLA Center of Healthier Children, Families and Communities, and is a Commissioner on the First 5 LA Commission. Dr. Kaufman has been a member of the Academy of Pediatrics' national Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependency, as well as the American Public Health Association's Task Force on Child Health. He is working with the LA County Health Department and a number of foundations on ways to increase the ability of communities to improve the health of the people who live, work, learn and play within them.

Joseph D. Mandel, Member
Vice Chancellor, Legal Affairs, University of California Los Angeles
As Vice Chancellor, Mr. Mandel is responsible for managing the legal affairs of the UCLA campus. Mr. Mandel was also an attorney in the law firm of Tuttle & Taylor and the Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Natomas Company. Mr. Mandel has been active on a wide range of associations, committees, and boards of directors, including serving as President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, President of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and as President of the Yale Law School Association. Mr. Mandel has been honored for his long standing commitment to public service, and has received the Anti-Defamation League’s Stanley Mosk Liberty Through Justice Award, the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Shattuck-Price Award, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund’s West Coast Liberty Award, Public Counsel’s Community Service Award, as well as the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’s Maynard Toll Award for his contribution to providing legal services for low income persons. Mr. Mandel also recently completed four years of service as President of the Western Justice Center Foundation, an organization that provides, among other things, violence prevention and conflict resolution education to school children grades 4 through 12.

Tom Pfister, Member
Latham & Watkins LLP
After practicing law as an associate and a partner in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins since 1974, Mr. Pfister retired from Latham in January 2006. He is currently of counsel at Latham. Mr. Pfister specialized in employment litigation on behalf of management and represented employers in a broad range of state and federal court lawsuits, including the defense and resolution of major class action discrimination and wage and hour cases throughout the country. Mr. Pfister is a Fellow of the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, is named in The Best Lawyers in America, and has been cited by Chambers and Partners' as a leading California employment attorney. He has been a frequent lecturer at national seminars on employment law issues. Mr. Pfister has also been active in community service. He currently serves on the Boards of Trustees of the Harvard-Westlake School, the Norton Simon Museum, and the Constitutional Rights Foundation. He previously served on the Board of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

Patricia Phillips, Member
Senior Counsel, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Patricia Phillips is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and is certified by the State Bar of California as a Family Law Specialist, handling issues relating to the dissolution of marriage, including child custody and support issues. Ms Phillips frequently serves as a mediator and arbitrator for business, employment, and family matters. She is a member of various boards, including the Board of Maternal and Child Health Access and Loyola Law School Board of Visitors. She is a frequent lecturer and writer on family law issues, methods of dispute resolution, and professionalism. Ms. Phillips was the first woman to be elected President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and received its highest award, the Shattuck-Price Award. She has received numerous awards, including the ACLU Pro Bono Advocacy Award and most recently was honored for her community service by Maternal and Child Health Access and the Levitt & Quinn Family Law Center.

Lisa Pinto, Member
District Director, Office of United States Congressman Henry A. Waxman
Ms. Pinto earned her JD from the University of California, Davis. She worked as a staff attorney at the Law Offices of Higgs, Fletcher & Mack, litigating in the areas of personal injury, construction, real estate, and medical malpractice before joining Dependency Court Legal Services in its first year of existence. After five years with Dependency Court Legal Services, the predecessor to Children’s Law Center, Ms. Pinto left to serve as the District Director responsible for all aspects of the management of United States Congressman Henry Waxman’s Los Angeles district office.

Tony L. Richardson, Member
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis
Mr.Tony L. Richardson is a trial attorney who has tried insurance coverage actions, contract disputes, and product liability cases. Mr. Richardson is currently serving as the Chairman of the California State Bar’s Commission on Access to Justice, a member of the Board of Governors of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American Judicature Society, and a member of the National Advisory Board of the NALP Foundation. He also served as a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Task Force on the State Criminal Justice System and as a Deputy General Counsel on the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Rampart Independent Review Panel. Mr. Richardson has also been actively involved in his firm’s representation of a class of patients at the Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Hospital in Downey and in preventing the closure of that one-of-its-kind medical facility, which provides acute care and rehabilitation services to Medi-Cal recipients and other needy individuals.