James Sandman

Jim Sandman is Distinguished Lecturer and Director of the Future of the Profession Lab at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He is President Emeritus of the Legal Services Corporation, the United States’ largest funder of civil legal aid. Jim was President of LSC from 2011 to 2020. Under his leadership, LSC expanded bipartisan support for federal funding of legal aid, promoted the use of technology to increase access to justice, expanded the use of data to improve the delivery of legal services, and created a new Pro Bono Initiative grant program.

Jim practiced for 30 years with Arnold & Porter and was the firm’s Managing Partner for a decade.   He has served as General Counsel of the District of Columbia Public Schools and is a past President of the 110,000-member District of Columbia Bar.

Jim is Chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, Vice Chair of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Law Institute. He serves on the boards of the Pro Bono Institute and Albany Law School, among other organizations. He served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Legal Issues Arising from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Jim has received the American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Bar Association’s Presidential Citation, and the District of Columbia Bar’s highest honor, the Justice William J. Brennan Award, among other awards.  In 2008 Legal Times named him one of the 90 greatest Washington lawyers of the last 30 years.

He is a summa cum laude graduate of Boston College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and was Executive Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.  He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Max Rosenn of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Related Sessions

Closing Fireside Chat: Regulatory Reform, Legal Innovation, ProBono and Access to Justice Location: Date: April 13, 2023 Time: 4:50 pm - 5:30 pm View session

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