Leslie M. Gross Personal Biography

For three generations, the women in my family have dedicated their lives to improving the opportunities for communities of color. As African-American women, teaching was one of the few professions available to them. There was a force even stronger than racism, however, that drove them to choose their careers. They felt it was their duty to stress to each generation the importance of education as a means of empowerment.

As a result, their example served to reinforce my belief that we each have a duty to share our talents with others in order to uplift the community. To fulfill my obligation, I decided to follow a career path that had been practically unavailable to my mother just one generation ago. I resolved to follow in the footsteps of one of my role models, Constance Baker Motley, and become a civil rights attorney. This plan was almost foiled, however, when in 1991, my father received an unexpected Christmas bonus-- a pink slip that changed both his life and mine. Suddenly, I was unable to rely on my family for any financial support and I was forced to decide how I was going to continue my education-- or whether I'd be able to finish at all.

After that event I realized the truly tenuous nature of African-American economic security. Fortunately, I had been granted a National Achievement Scholarship for African-American students and other financial aid that covered my tuition and books for my remaining three years of college. With the help of my scholarship and by working a part-time job on nights and weekends, I was able to graduate in four years. While a full time law student, I worked my way through law school, managing the building where I lived and worked as a research assistant. I qualified each year of my law school career for need-based financial aid, however, I had to borrow the maximum amount of loans allowed to supplement this aid. By the time I pay all of my law school loans, I will have paid well over $100,000.

I was determined, however, not to allow my financial hardships prevent me from helping empower others. In addition to my other work, I volunteered and continue to volunteer in the DC community. During law school, I reached outside the scope of traditional law-school activities and opted to focus my efforts towards helping the greater DC community and indigent communities nationwide. I volunteered at both the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Office and at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. I received neither salary, financial aid, or academic credit for the work. I also volunteered to feed the homeless, served as a mentor for a student in Southeast Washington, DC, and helped low-income residents in their efforts to get public benefits and affordable housing. I currently tutor students in the District. The support that I received from the African-American community during my years in Washington has strengthened my resolve to give back to my community and devote my life to helping empower others. Having lived in the District for the last six years, I have seen the gross quality of life disparities that exist between those who have access to quality education and those who do not. While a student in college, I lived in D.C.'s Shaw community, where due to societal discrimination and economic circumstances, higher education is not an option for most residents.

I met an attorney of color for the first time when I was 22 years-old. Growing up, I struggled to find black female role models within the legal community. All of the women in my family had been teachers. No one in my family had ever graduated from law school. The absence of African-American doctors, lawyers, and college professors within my community made those career paths seem all the more unattainable. Even more intimidating, was arriving at law school my first semester, surrounded by classmates who had parents and siblings who were attorneys and judges. Meeting someone in the profession whose experience mirrored mine however, provided an invaluable mentoring experience. Although, if current trends are allowed to continue, the next generation of potential attorneys will have even fewer role models. Affirmative action has been an integral part of my educational success and the success of countless other women, minorities and low-income applicants. It is my goal to ensure that the educational ladder is extended to the next generation.

I have consistently and continually devoted my time and efforts to attacking policies and procedures that serve to further disenfranchise disadvantaged communities. The summer after my first year of law school, I worked at Sprenger & Lang, a public interest law firm that brings class-action employment discrimination suits. After my second year of law school, I worked at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. I had significant client contact while working with indigent clients in their attempts to gain government benefits at George Washington Law School's Administrative Advocacy Clinic. During my last semester of law school, I worked at both the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Office and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

Sprenger & Lang is a public interest law firm that focuses on class-action discrimination litigation. Due to the firm's size, I had the opportunity to work closely with managing attorneys on complex litigation. Most of my work focused on drafting motions and examining documents obtained through discovery. In addition, my work included research that resulted in the identification of experts for use at trial. As a legal intern, I had the opportunity to sit-in on litigation strategy planning sessions. My work provided valuable litigation training and insight into the strategy required in bringing class action lawsuits.

While at the Community Legal Clinics, I had the opportunity to work independently and to build upon my client counseling skills. Fellows at the clinic acted as liaisons between indigent clients and administrative agencies. At the Clinic, I helped clients get their disability benefits, food stamps, and other forms of public assistance. My work at the clinic helped me gain insight into the survival strategies necessary for those who live in D.C.'s forgotten communities. In exchange for the services I provided them, my clients shared valuable information about the coping strategies that develop as a result of living below the poverty line.

During the summer after my second year, I was awarded a Shapiro Public Interest Grant so that I could work at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). At LDF, I worked closely with attorneys, researching a variety of civil rights issues, including housing rights, Title VI issues, statutory construction, and affirmative action. I coordinated the summer interns' efforts to prepare for the nomination of Bill Lann Lee to the position of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. My litigation-related assignments included work on an amicus brief for a fair housing case in the Third Circuit and research related to the congressional inaction doctrine. I researched the legal and public policy implications of the Department of Transportation's proposed minority contracting program regulations. I examined the factors that contributed to the suppression of minority firm creation and examined how the proposed regulations would effect future formation. Much of my research focused on the ongoing discrimination that minorities face in the field of government contracting. In addition, I had the opportunity to consult with experts in the contracting field and examine the legal requirements of affirmative action programs. I also had an opportunity to see the empowering effects the Department's affirmative action programs have on the minority contracting community. After reviewing 183 pages of regulations, I drafted comments and submitted them to the Department of Transportation.

At the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Office, I investigated potential class-action racial discrimination claims in Alabama, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Nevada. My legal research focused on both substantive and procedural issues. At the Washington Lawyers' Committee, where I volunteered since the fall semester, I worked in the Equal Employment Opportunity Intake program. As a part of the intake process, I had daily client contact and managed a full load of intake cases. During the intake process, I interviewed potential clients, evaluated claims, and requested relevant documents. My involvement in the program enhanced my ability to assess legal claims and to understand the needs of clients. The sheer volume of inquiries that flood into the Committee's Intake program reinforced my awareness of the ongoing persuasiveness of discrimination.

While in law school, I took courses in Race, Racism and the Law, Employment Discrimination, Housing Rights, Civil Rights Legislation, Constitutional Law, Feminist Legal Theory, Federal Courts, Trial Advocacy, and Administrative Law. I wrote papers such as Welfare Reform: Punishing Poor Women for Being Poor and Discriminatory Housing Advertising: A Critique of the Ordinary Reader Standard. I hope to continue the struggle for equal opportunity by employing innovative legal strategies that build upon the progress of previous generations. To do anything else would dishonor my obligation to my forbears. As an individual with a deeply personal interest in fighting injustice, I have taken every opportunity available to better prepare myself for a career in public interest law.

My past public interest and life experience has provided valuable insight into the role that public interest legal advocacy can play in combating our nation's neglect of inner cities and indifference to the root causes of poverty. My extensive and continued dedication to public interest work demonstrates my commitment to helping indigent communities rise beyond the barriers of institutionalized discrimination and empower themselves.

My fellowship proposal focused on efforts to ensure continued access to higher education for people of color. A combination of a factors create barriers to higher education access. Admissions criteria, the removal of remedial programs from traditionally white institutions, lack of effective financial aid, inadequate K-12 preparation, lack of counseling/mentoring, and unfriendly racial climates at predominantly white colleges and universities have devastating effects on higher education access for African-American students. My examination of admissions criteria will focus on schools' overemphasis on assessments that under-predict the academic potential of African-American students and schools' reliance on factors which appear race-neutral but which have an exclusionary effect on black students. In examining state financial aid schemes, I will look at the availability of need-based verses merit based aid that is linked to high achievement on standardized tests, the availability of grants verses loans, and the predominance of scholarships that exclude African American students from consideration.

During my tenure as a Lindsay Fellow, I worked on a variety of litigation and policy activities in support of my project proposal. Primarily, my work focused on the inadequacy of K-12 higher education preparation African-American children receive in public schools. This work began with the filing of a school desegregation case in Thomasville, GA, which attacked discrimination in curriculum content, special education, gifted programs, discipline, school assignment, faculty assignment, classroom assignment, guidance counseling, and extracurricular activities. This litigation continued throughout the duration of my fellowship. I also had the opportunity to work with other civil rights organizations on higher education affirmative action issues through my work with Americans for a Fair Chance. Additionally, I spoke to law and undergraduate students about affirmative action and education. The remainder of my work fell into three categories: 1) Equipping Schools; 2) Teaching Students; and 3) Higher Education Access. "Equipping Schools" work focused on resource comparability, the misuse of Title I funds, and funding equity issues. "Teaching Students" work focused on tracking, high stakes testing, education adequacy, and special education. Lastly, "Higher Education Access" efforts focused on developing affirmative strategies for challenging discriminatory admissions standards and the premature removal of remedial education from higher education institutions.

The Lindsay Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for recent law school graduates to work in civil rights. I am honored to receive such an opportunity. Mr. Lindsay championed civil rights in his career as a partner with the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, and with the Lawyers' Committee for several years as co-chair from 1969-1971. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights is one of the nation's foremost civil rights legal organizations whose principal mission is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law. To that end, the Lindsay Fellow must demonstrate commitment to scholarship, activities, or employment that promotes racial, gender, or economic justice for the most excluded in our society. Given my background, community ties and commitment to public service, I am dedicated to making this critically important project a success.