Jon W. Davidson, Long-time Senior Counsel for Lambda Legal in Western Region, Takes Helm As Organization's New Legal Director

 (New York, December 13, 2004) — Lambda Legal today announced that Jon W. Davidson is the organization’s new Legal Director, following a nationwide search over the last few months. Davidson is currently serving as Senior Counsel for Lambda Legal in its Western Regional Office and has worked for Lambda Legal for nine years. Davidson will relocate to New York to work from Lambda Legal’s national headquarters starting in January.

As Legal Director, Davidson will oversee a range of litigation and legal advocacy at the nation’s oldest and largest organization fighting for legal rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV. Lambda Legal’s docket includes major cases impacting people nationwide on a wide range of issues, including marriage and relationships, parenting, youth in schools, foster care, employment, HIV and other matters. Davidson brings years of strategic leadership and experience on the full range of issues impacting LGBT people and those with HIV, Lambda Legal said.

“Jon Davidson is a brilliant lawyer and one of our movement’s great strategic minds. As a longtime civil rights attorney, Jon understands the needs of the LGBT and HIV communities and he knows how to deliver results that impact people’s lives. Having already served Lambda Legal for nearly a decade, Jon brings a comprehensive understanding of our organization and what its role is in the fight for full equality. We are delighted to have Jon lead our phenomenal team of attorneys around the country as we fight the battles that improve the lives of countless LGBT people and people with HIV,” said Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal.

The Los Angeles City Council will honor Davidson tomorrow for his long-time work as a civil rights attorney, an LGBT activist and the new director of the legal team at Lambda Legal. The ceremony will be tomorrow at 10 a.m. in City Council chambers. Also tomorrow, the law firm Irell & Manella will host a reception honoring Davidson, who was a partner at the firm earlier in his career.

At Lambda Legal, Davidson already has led litigation on a wide range of issues concerning the LGBT and HIV communities, including cases that established public school students’ First Amendment right to be open about their sexual orientation, determined gay employees’ right to pursue same-sex sexual harassment claims, and made clear that asylum must be granted if people are being persecuted on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. He is currently the lead attorney on a case before the California State Supreme Court on behalf of a lesbian couple fighting a business that denied them equal benefits because they are not married.

“Working on behalf of LGBT people and those with HIV has been the most rewarding experience of my life. By assuming stewardship of Lambda Legal’s talented legal department, I am taking on a task that both humbles and excites me. I truly look forward to the coming years when our communities will realize the dream of full equality,” Davidson said.

Before coming to Lambda Legal, Davidson was a Senior Staff Counsel and Director of the ACLU of Southern California’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project for more than seven years. Prior to that, Davidson worked in private practice at Irell & Manella for eight years. Davidson received his undergraduate degree from Stanford and earned his law degree from Yale.

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