Public Interest Briefs

We are pleased to announce the selection of Lew Hollman as CLIPI’s new Executive Director. In making the announcement of Lew’s selection after an extensive search, Carlyle Hall, a CLIPI founder and the current Board President, said “We are very pleased to have found a new director with the breadth of experience and commitment to public interest law that has marked Lew;s career.”

In addition to past experience as a program director (at Humboldt Legal Services in Eureka and San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, SFVNLS), Lew has participated in complex litigation involving the rights of the disabled, the homeless, and welfare recipients. He has extensive experience litigating for greater access and resources for mental health care, and indigent health care generally. Lew is one of the lead counsel in Rodriguez v Los Angeles Unified School District, a groundbreaking case changing allocation of educational resources in Los Angeles. 

A graduate of Boalt Hall (the University of California Law School at Berkeley), Lew clerked for Justice Samuela J. Roberts of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He was the founding attorney of Humboldt Legal Services in Eureka, Ca and is a past State Bar appointee to the California Indian Legal Services Board of Trustees. Most of his work has been with SFVNLS, where he has twice served as Executive Director, stepping down both times to further litigation interests. 

Lew was feted by SFVNLS October 1, 1999 receiving kind words and gift from the SFVNLS board, management, union (in which Lew served as a co-chair), former clients, and members of the community, including the President of the NAACP’s Pacoima Branch and the President of the Latin American Civic Association. Lew was honored the morning at City Hall East by the Mayor and the City Council for his service to the community. City Council members Laura Chick and Mike Feurer both commented on Lew’s achievements and reputation in the legal community. In thanking the City, Lew pointed out that, although he may have sued it a few times, he had also co-counseled with the City (and CLIPI) in a suit to expand the County General Relief program on behalf of the mentally ill. 

The public interest law community lauded CLIPI’s choice. “I can’t think of a better match for CLIPI, “said Mark D. Rosenbaum, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California. Tom Saenz, Regional Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, said: “Lew will bring a wealth of talent to the Center for Law in the Public Interest.”

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