Today the Equal Justice Society announced the departure of long-tenured director, Kelly Dermody, from the organization’s Board of Directors. Kelly has served on the EJS Board since November 2018. She is the Managing Partner of the San Francisco Office of the law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP.
The departure comes as Kelly begins a new chapter of board governance on the Board of Trustees for the California State University (CSU) system. CSU is the country’s largest public university system, with 23 campuses and approximately 500,000 students. Kelly was appointed to serve by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
“Kelly’s eight years of service on our board have been transformative for the Equal Justice Society,” said Lisa Holder, President of EJS. “She brought her legal brilliance and strategic advocacy to our mission and a profound generosity that boosted our capacity, funding our Civil Rights Organizer position and anchoring our vital co-counseling partnership with Lieff Cabraser.”
“While we will deeply miss her insight and leadership on the board, we are thrilled to congratulate Kelly on her appointment to the California State University Board of Trustees. CSU’s students and campuses are gaining a fierce, unparalleled champion for equity, and we carry immense gratitude for the lasting legacy that Kelly leaves here at EJS.”
Kelly joined the EJS board in November 2018, having already been a significant EJS supporter, including as a major gift sponsor of the Eva Paterson Legacy Fund. Since joining the EJS Board, Kelly has supported the expansion of the organization’s work, particularly in the area of health equity, and has helped fund a newly created staff Civil Rights Organizer position at EJS.
Fortunately, EJS will continue to work alongside Kelly as co-counsel in on-going litigation they have filed on behalf of hundreds of Black women who have alleged they developed ovarian or uterine cancer as a result of using chemical hair relaxers. As part of our ongoing public education about the case, Lieff Cabraser and EJS launched a Health Equity Newsletter to dive deeper into the issues related to the case and to topics of interest to Black women and other stakeholders regarding the many issues of concern in the areas of public health and health equity.
A Chambers & Partners USA Band-1 rated attorney, Kelly is Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law, and a past President of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Kelly specializes in civil rights and employment class and collective actions on behalf of plaintiffs, and individual and mass tort cases addressing sexual abuse, harassment, and trafficking.
Kelly is a nationally recognized advocate in the areas of pay equity, #metoo, and diversity and inclusion. She has prosecuted numerous cases challenging unfair hiring, promotion, compensation, and performance systems..She is a member of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and the American Law Institute.
The Daily Journal has selected Kelly as one of the top 100 attorneys in California, top 75 labor and employment lawyers in California, and top 100 women litigators in California. In 2016, The Recorder awarded her the “Giant Slayer” award for her litigation work. In 2017, she led the organizing team (alongside Lieff Cabraser and the Bar Association of San Francisco) for a massive post-election conference that brought together more than 1,000 participants and scores of non-profits to address the rising climate of hate and erosion of protections for vulnerable communities after the 2016 election.
In 2020, in the case of Scholl v. Mnuchin, Kelly and her firm, along with EJS as co-counsel, secured class certification and a permanent injunction for lead plaintiffs Collin Scholl and Lisa Strawn and a nationwide class of people incarcerated in state and federal prisons who had been denied CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funding on the basis of their incarcerated status.
As a result of the case, the court ordered the U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service to distribute over $1 billion that had been awarded by Congress to approximately 1.4 million class members who were disproportionately economically-disenfranchised Black, Latinx, and Native Americans.
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