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Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF)

Cesar Perales
President and General Counsel

Cesar Perales was one of three young lawyers that saw the need for a civil rights organization to protect and promote the rights of Latinos in the Northeast. By 1972, they had organized a board of directors and raised sufficient funds to open the door of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund with Cesar as its Executive Director.

Under his leadership, PRLDEF initiated a flurry of lawsuits over the next two years that would establish the right to bilingual education, strike down civil service requirements that kept Latinos from public employment and eliminated barriers to government benefits for non-English speaking applicants. PRLDEF sued the government of Puerto Rico to force it to enforce the guarantee of decent working conditions of migrant workers sent to farms of New Jersey and other parts of the United States. The organizations national impact was felt in 1975 when the Congress amended the Voting Rights Act to include the right to bilingual ballots-a right established by PRLDEF in the New York courts in 1973.

Mr. Perales went on to government service but in 1981 responded to the Board's request that he return to PRLDEF. Within six months PRLDEF was at the forefront of litigation to get the Justice Department to block the election of the New York City Council until the lines were redrawn in or nondiscriminatory manner. The subsequent court ordered halt to the elections was perhaps the most dramatic application of the Voting Rights Act in the North.

Cesar Perales' record of government service has also been extraordinary. He was nominated by President Jimmy Carter and confirmed by the US Senate to serve as Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services. As Commissioner of the Department of Social Services under Governor Mario M. Cuomo he managed New York State's largest budget. He went on to serve as Deputy Mayor of New York City during the administration of David N. Dinkins. After leaving public service, he went to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center as Senior Vice President. The Community Health Care system he developed for that hospital during his tenure has received national recognition.

The son of a Puerto Rican father and a Dominican mother, Cesar is a graduate of the City College of New York and the Fordham University School of Law. He is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from Lehman College.

Education:


Jackson Chin
Associate Counsel

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Howrey LLP

John Nields
Partner

Co-chair of Howrey's white-collar defense practice and a civil and criminal litigator at all levels of state and federal courts, John Nields has a long history of government service, including as Chief Counsel of the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. His firm practice includes periodic representation of current and prior government officials, and he is also Past President, Public Services Activities Committee of the District of Columbia Bar. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Education:

  • University of Pennsylvania, LLB, 1967
  • Yale University, BA, 1964

State Bar Memberships:

  • District of Columbia, 1980
  • New York, 1969

Courts and Adjudicative Bodies:

  • United States Supreme Court
  • United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits


Christina Sarchio
Partner

Christina Guerola Sarchio is a partner in Washington DC, practicing in the commercial litigation, antitrust and white collar legal arenas. Ms. Sarchio has developed an expertise in representing corporate clients engaged in complex federal and state actions sounding in: multi-district class-action and private litigation concerning criminal and civil antitrust matters; fraud; business torts; contract disputes; and franchise/dealer terminations. She has substantial experience with major enterprises in the oil and gas, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, beer, tobacco, and residential insulation industries. Ms. Sarchio has served as lead or co-counsel in numerous jury and bench trials, and has participated significantly in several arbitrations. She also has defended corporate and individual clients in criminal investigations.

Before joining Howrey, Ms. Sarchio prosecuted a broad range of criminal cases before both the trial and appellate courts in Manhattan as an Assistant District Attorney. Ms. Sarchio has taught as an Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University Law School, and provided on-air legal commentary on a variety of criminal and civil legal topics. Ms. Sarchio serves as the Immediate Past President of the Hispanic Bar Association of DC. Under her stewardship, the Hispanic National Bar Association honored the organization with its 2006 the "Best Affiliate of the Year" award. Ms. Sarchio was selected by Hispanic Business magazine as one of 2006's "100 Most Influential Hispanics."

Education:

  • George Washington University, JD, 1995
  • Cornell University, BA, 1991

State Bar Memberships:

  • District of Columbia, 1997
  • New York, 1996
  • New Jersey, 1995

Courts and Adjudicative Bodies:

  • US Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
  • US District Court for the District of Columbia
  • US District Court for the District of New Jersey
  • US District Court for the District of New York


Laura Shores
Partner

Laura Shores is a partner in Howrey's Antitrust and Global Litigation practices. She is a member of the firm's Partnership committee and serves as the firm-wide Hiring Chair. Ms. Shores has second-chaired civil antitrust trials and criminal trials; represented both corporate and individual clients in grand jury investigations; and advised several individuals in connection with congressional committee investigations and related proceedings.

In two voters' rights cases related to the historic 2004 US presidential election, Ms. Shores worked to improve minority voters' access to the polls - one of the cases was litigated all the way to the US Supreme Court. In another high profile case heard by the Supreme Court, Ms. Shores, along with John Nields, successfully argued for the dismissal of an indictment of a senior Clinton administration official brought by former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.

Ms. Shores is an active antitrust and corporate litigation trial lawyer with substantial experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech and technology industries. She currently represents a global computer chip manufacturer in one of the largest civil antitrust litigation matters in the country. She also represents a pharmaceutical company in a major securities fraud case.

Education:

  • University of Chicago Law School, JD, 1988
  • Smith College, BA, cum laude, 1985

State Bar Memberships:

  • District of Columbia, 1990

Courts and Adjudicative Bodies

  • United States Supreme Court, 1999 to present
  • United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Eighth, Eleventh and District of Columbia Circuits


Eduardo Ferrer
Associate

Education:

  • Georgetown Law Center, JD, cum laude, 2005
  • Georgetown University, BSBA, cum laude, 2002

State Bar Memberships:

  • District of Columbia, 2007
  • California, 2006


Sonia W. Murphy, Esq.
Senior Associate

Education:

  • Howard University, JD, 2002
  • Spelman College, BA, Political Science, 1999

State Bar Memberships:

  • District of Columbia, 2003
  • Maryland, 2002

Court and Adjudicative Bodies:

  • United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

Professional Associations:

  • American Bar Association, Member
  • District of Columbia Women's Bar Association
  • National Bar Association, Member


Veronica Berger
Associate

Education:

  • University of Notre Dame, 2003
  • Cornell University Law School, 2006

State Bar Memberships:

  • New York, 2006


Lucia Rich
Paralegal


Alejandra Quiroga
Paralegal

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Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs

Bob Bruskin
Senior Counsel

Bob Bruskin is a 1972 graduate of Georgetown Law School. For over 20 years he was a partner at Howrey LLP trying complex commercial disputes in the area of Antitrust, Intellectual Property and Government Contracts.

After retiring from Howrey in 2004, Bob became Senior Counsel to the non-profit Washington Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs where he is involved in a wide range of civil rights litigation involving disability rights, housing discrimination and immigrants' rights.


Laura Varela
Project Director, Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Laura E. Varela joined the Washington Lawyers' Committee as the Project Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in January of 2006. Prior to joining the Committee, Ms. Varela worked for CASA of Maryland, an immigrants' rights organization, where she litigated and settled numerous lawsuits against private entities on behalf of immigrant day laborers for failure to pay minimum and overtime wages.

Ms. Varela also worked with a team of attorneys in filing an unprecedented lawsuit against the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration for national origin discrimination by systematically denying driver's licenses to eligible immigrant applicants. Ms. Varela received her JD degree from the University of Michigan Law School where she was honored with a scholarship award for her work and devotion to immigrants' rights.

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