The Public Interest Law Society presents A Panel Discussion About Civil Rights Law and Private-Public Interest Law Firms with Attorneys from Loevy & Loevy

A small but growing number of private firms practice public interest law. Such firms work for under-represented groups or specialize in issue-oriented work, such as civil rights litigation, tenant advocacy or representing whistleblowers. What are private-public interest firms? How do they operate? What is it like to work for one? How does the experience of practicing law at a public interest firm differ from practicing law in either BigLaw or in a more conventional public interest capacity (public defender, policy work, govt. agency, etc.)? Come to this lunch talk to learn the answers to these questions and more! Lunch from Sit Down Café provided.

Loevy & Loevy is a Chicago-based private-public interest firm. It has won more multi-million dollar jury verdicts over the past decade than any other civil rights law firm in the county. 

Roshna Bala Keen is a partner at Loevy & Loevy. She focuses her practice on wrongful convictions, police sexual assault and excessive force cases, and unlawful arrests. In addition, she litigates class actions on behalf of people housed in jails and prisons, challenging their unconstitutional conditions of confinement. Prior to joining Loevy & Loevy, Ms. Keen was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP. Ms. Keen graduated from Northwestern University Law School in 2004. During law school, she served on the Northwestern University Law Review, was research assistant to criminal law professor Paul H. Robinson, judicial extern for Hon. Judge Ruben Castillo of the Northern District of Illinois, and president of the Environmental Law Society. She was a recipient of the Honorable Robert A. Sprecher merit scholarship for all three years.

Elizabeth Mazur is a partner at Loevy & Loevy. Her practice is focused on civil cases involving wrongful convictions, excessive force, and deliberate indifference in prison and jail settings. Liz graduated from UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 2005 with Order of the Coif honors. During law school, Liz served as the Senior Executive Editor of the California Law Review and interned with several public interest legal organizations. After law school, Liz clerked for the Honorable M. Blane Michael of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. From 2006 to 2008, she worked as a Skadden Fellow at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, where she engaged in policy advocacy and provided direct legal services for low income clients in public benefits and family law matters.

Steve Art joined Loevy & Loevy in September 2011. Mr. Art graduated from Northwestern University School of Law, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, in 2009. During law school, he served as Executive Articles Editor of the Northwestern University Law Review, and won the Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition, the Raoul Berger Prize in writing, the Lowden-Wigmore Prize, and Senior Research Honors. Following law school, Mr. Art served as law clerk to the Honorable Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit during the court’s 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Terms. In addition to that appellate experience, Mr. Art has written numerous merits briefs in the U.S. Courts of Appeals and amicus briefs and petitions for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Art is a founding member of the Justice Council of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. He is also a member of the board of Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and serves as a co-chair of the Criminal Justice Committee of Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers.