June is Pride Month. We celebrate those members of the LGBTQ+ community who have contributed to our legal system and especially to access to justice initiatives. We are thrilled to spotlight three such individuals who also have a strong connection to PILI and our mission to engage, inspire and empower those advancing equal access to justice. They are Susan Curry, Jordan Heinz and Jaylin McClinton. We asked each of them the same questions to which their responses are below.
Susan Curry
Currently the Senior Director of Public Interest Law and Policy at the University of Chicago Law School, Susan is a member of the PILI Board of Directors. Prior to that, Susan served as PILI’s Executive Director. She began her legal career in Chicago as an associate of the law firm of Gardner, Carton & Douglas (n/k/a Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath). After moving to the nonprofit sector, she worked at several public interest law agencies including the Better Government Association, the Illinois Guardianship & Advocacy Commission, and the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago (n/k/a Legal Council for Health Justice) and the Minnesota Justice Foundation.
What does Pride Month mean to you?
Pride month, to me, is a time for celebration but also reflection. It’s an opportunity to rejoice in and with the LGBTQ+ community and all that we offer, but also to reflect on our own journeys and on all of the challenges we continue to face.
How has your identity informed you as a lawyer or in your legal career?
In my view, the need for Pride would not exist if queer people were freely accepted without prejudice. As a lesbian public interest lawyer, I have tried to work in positions that allow me to address these access to justice issues. Way back in the early 1990s, I served as the Legal Director, then the Executive Director of the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, helping the gay community come to grips with the legal issues triggered by their HIV status. Today, at the University of Chicago Law School, I have the opportunity to work with LGBTQ+ law students and their allies as they too seek to develop their own careers – careers with access to justice as their hallmark.
How do you see the connection between Pride Month, the legacy of the LGBTQ+ community in the field of law, and your personal experience as a lawyer and your connection to public interest law/pro bono?
Pride month is much more than an annual celebration and rainbow-themed parties. As with so many other moments in history, it was born of protests against oppressive forces that were seeking to silence or diminish our community. Our community’s lawyers and policymakers are uniquely positioned to fight this battle, whether through litigation or legislation or advocacy. Pride is a time for LGBTQ+ attorneys and allies to celebrate their successes but it’s a time to recognize Pride as a political event as well. Pride is a time to marshal our resources and line up against unjust systems, with lawyers at the lead.
Jordan Heinz
Jordan is currently Senior Counsel, Global Trademarks for Abbott. Previously, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Jordan is a “double PILI” having been both a PILI Law Student Intern and Graduate Fellow, both positions being at Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. Jordan has been actively involved in PILI’s Alumni Network including having served as Chair of the Alumni Network Leadership Council. Jordan was a Fellow Representative on the PIIL Board of Directors and has also served on the boards of directors for Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, Lambda Legal and Legal Council for Health Justice. He has also maintained a robust pro bono caseload as a lawyer, including helping members of the LGBTQ+ community with their legal needs.
What does Pride Month mean to you?
To me, Pride Month means an opportunity to see the country’s support for my civil rights. Cities, states, companies, families, and friends turn out for parades, brunches, parties, and events recognizing LGBTQ civil rights. I can’t get enough of the Pride flags hanging out of windows, in store windows, and on parade floats – it energizes and inspires me for the year.
How has your identity informed you as a lawyer or in your legal career?
Being a gay man has certainly played a large role in my legal career, driving me to devote a substantial portion of my practice to LGBTQ civil rights cases. Working on marriage equality and transgender rights cases will always be a highlight of my career. We are incredibly fortunate as lawyers to be living and practicing during such a pivotal time in the LGBTQ civil rights movement. Now is the time to get involved and play a role in that movement, in whatever way you can.
How do you see the connection between Pride Month, the legacy of the LGBTQ+ community in the field of law, and your personal experience as a lawyer and your connection to public interest law/pro bono?
Pro bono service is a powerful avenue for getting involved in the LGBTQ civil rights movement. Whether it is representing a gay asylee, or representing a class of transgender prisoners, or working on LGBTQ-inclusive policies at your employer, pro bono service can create such a powerful impact on so many LGBTQ lives. Every year, Pride Month inspires me to do more.
Jaylin McClinton
Jaylin is a May 2022 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law. He was a Spring 2021 PILI Law Student Intern at the ACLU of Illinois and currently serves as an Intern Representative to the PILI Alumni Network Leadership Council. Before law school, Jaylin joined the Obama Foundation as their first-ever Community Organizer tasked with building a strong, grassroots local community network. He also previously worked in the Obama Administration in the Office of Management and Administration and shortly thereafter for then-Illinois State Representative Juliana Stratton, now Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. He is currently a candidate for 5th District Cook County Commissioner.
What does Pride Month mean to you?
Pride Month means a lot to me personally. First, it represents an act of resistance to the powers that be in an attempt for a community to simply be themselves. After all, the very first one was a riot. Second, Juneteenth is situated in the month, so when I think about that and the liberation of Black people, specifically, it makes me have a lot more pride for my race and sexuality. Despite all the adversity we face as a collective people, Black and LGBTQIA+ Americans continue to flourish as our authentic selves.
How has your identity informed you as a lawyer or in your legal career?
My identities as a Black, openly gay man have significantly informed my legal career to-date. Because of these identities, I am a better advocate and therefore a better lawyer. When I think about equity in our legal system, I am always thinking about how my lived experiences can influence and shape the rule of law, bending it more towards justice for those populations often underrepresented and misrepresented.
How do you see the connection between Pride Month, the legacy of the LGBTQ+ community in the field of law, and your personal experience as a lawyer and your connection to public interest law/pro bono?
For me personally, my desire has always been to mesh law, litigation, and public policy together for the common good. Through celebrating Pride Month, uplifting those in the LGBTQ+ community that have come before me, and working in spaces that live up to values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging all play an instrumental role in how I see the world. Public interest law and pro bono service are integral to that commitment.
