Staffing Up the Resistance: Lambda Legal Hires Attorney Sasha Buchert to Join Washington, DC Team

Washington, DC – Today, Lambda Legal announced the hiring of Sasha Buchert, who will join the organization’s Washington, DC office as a Staff Attorney. Prior to joining Lambda, Buchert was a staff attorney and policy counsel at the Transgender Law Center.

Buchert is the second hire for Lambda Legal in the nation’s capital, and will join Sharon McGowan, the new Director of Strategy and powerhouse attorney formerly with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The organization is working to expand its reach and advance its influence in the resistance against the Trump Administration and its attacks on the rights of LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV.

“Sasha Buchert is a smart and tested attorney, who has been behind some of the most significant victories on behalf of LGBTQ people in recent years.” said Sharon McGowan, Director of Strategy at Lambda Legal. “We are thrilled to have someone as talented and respected within the civil rights community as Sasha join our Washington office.”

McGowan continued, “Throughout her career, Sasha has been a force for transgender rights.   And since the election, Sasha has been plugged into much of the federal resistance efforts that are at the core of our work in Washington.  She is someone who will be able to hit the ground running on day one, and help drive Lambda Legal’s critical work in derailing and opposing this administration’s active pursuit of an anti-LGBTQ agenda, and in continuing our progress toward full equality, liberty, dignity and justice for all.”

At Transgender Law Center, Buchert served as co-counsel with the team at Lambda Legal on a challenge to the Veterans’ Administration’s denial of surgical care for transgender veterans. She also has worked on a number of landmark cases, including securing the groundbreaking decision from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Lusardi v. McHugh, which made clear that denial of gender-identity appropriate restroom access is an adverse employment action for which Title VII provides redress. Buchert was also a part of the team working on Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District, which is currently pending in the Seventh Circuit, involving a student’s right to access gender-identity appropriate restrooms at school.

“Lambda Legal has been at the front line of fighting for all in the LGBTQ community for years,” said Sasha Buchert, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal. “While our community has made incredible progress over the last few years, all of that has been put in jeopardy with this new administration. I’m excited to join this new team in the capital, taking the fight directly to the source right in the President’s backyard.”

Prior to joining Transgender Law Center, Buchert worked for the largest LGBT rights advocacy organization in Oregon, Basic Rights Oregon. Buchert was the first openly transgender person to be appointed to an Oregon state board, and from 2012-13, she served as the chair of the Oregon State Hospital Advisory Board. She holds a J.D. from Willamette University.