Association of Legal Aid Attorneys

Summer has not slowed the Brandeis Center (LDB) down. In August, LDB sued the U.S. Department of Education for unlawfully dismissing LDB’s Title VI complaint against the University of Pennsylvania only weeks after opening an anti-Semitism investigation. LDB also sued the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) Union for retaliating against Jewish and Non-Jewish members opposing its anti-Semitic practices. And LDB filed a brief opposing UC Berkeley’s motion to dismiss our lawsuit against UC Berkeley over its “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism.”

Summer has not slowed the Brandeis Center (LDB) down. In August, LDB sued the U.S. Department of Education for unlawfully dismissing LDB’s Title VI complaint against the University of Pennsylvania only weeks after opening an anti-Semitism investigation. LDB also sued the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) Union for retaliating against Jewish and Non-Jewish members opposing its anti-Semitic practices. And LDB filed a brief opposing UC Berkeley’s motion to dismiss our lawsuit against UC Berkeley over its “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism.”

Brandeis Center Sues the U.S. Dept. of Education

The Brandeis Center and its membership organization, Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (JAFE), filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for failing to follow its own procedures in dismissing the Brandeis Center’s November 2023 complaint against the University of Pennsylvania for fostering an environment of anti-Semitism on its campus – an abdication of its responsibility to thoroughly investigate instances of egregious anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination that occur in potential violation of OCR’s anti-discrimination standards and the Administrative Procedure Act.

“By failing to follow its own administrative procedures, in violation of its own stated mission of ‘vigorous enforcement of civil rights,’ the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Education overall have not only shown a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania, but for the due process entitled to every American who seeks relief from discrimination in educational institutions,” declared Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “Jewish students at UPenn and many other college campuses across the country increasingly continue to face an egregious amount of anti-Semitism, particularly after the Oct. 7 massacre. OCR’s decisions have crippled these students’ ability to seek remedy from these hostilities and allows certain colleges and universities to continue ignoring or even fostering anti-Semitism on their campus.”

Brandeis Center Sues Association of Legal Aid Attorneys Union

The Brandeis Center and law firm Lieb at Law filed a federal District Court complaint against the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325 (“the ALAA”) and individual union officials for undertaking acts to expel and otherwise discipline two Jewish and one Non-Jewish ally from the union, in retaliation for their lawsuit opposing the ALAA’s anti-Semitic discriminatory practices manifested in the now infamous ALAA resolution attacking Israel soon after the October 7 terror attacks.

The resolution opposed by the plaintiffs was so vile that several non-profit legal services providers employing ALAA’s members denounced it as anti-Semitic and unrepresentative of their values, including plaintiffs’ employer, the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, as well as The Legal Aid Society and the New York Legal Assistance Group.

“Zionism is integral to Jewish identity, but plaintiffs – proud unionists who have dedicated their professional lives to serving poor and disadvantaged clients – didn’t need to be Zionists, or in one case, even Jewish, to understand that anti-Semitism is antithetical both to their obligations as lawyers and to the mission of a union responsible for representing the interests of all its members,” proclaimed Brandeis Center Director of Corporate Initiatives and Senior Counsel Rory Lancman.

Brandeis Center Opposes UC Berkeley’s Motion to Dismiss Suit

LDB and its membership subsidiary JAFE filed an opposition brief in response to UC Berkeley motion to dismiss LDB’s lawsuit over the university’s “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism.”

“Defendants paint the suit as one alleging a series of discrete incidents. Wrong — it is a suit alleging defendants’ failure to respond in any meaningful way to a longstanding hostile environment,” wrote LDB in its opposition brief.

UC Berkeley argued in June that the case should be tossed because the university had not had time to internally address some of the incidents cited as evidence of anti-Semitism in the suit, including a tent encampment and the blockade of a gate on campus. Prior to the school’s attempt to dismiss the suit, LDB expanded its complaint to include even more anti-Semitic activity on campus, which UC Berkeley still has not addressed.

“Amazingly, the UC Berkeley regents have the nerve to claim that they shouldn’t be held accountable because they haven’t had enough time to investigate the situation,” said Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus.

“They got the facts and the law wrong,” stated LDB General Counsel L. Rachel Lerman, who added that it is “abundantly clear” the plaintiffs have valid claims and UC Berkeley is “mistaken” in its argument. With anti-Semitic activity on campus likely to escalate once classes resume next month, Lerman explained that the court cannot give the school even more time to pursue its ineffective strategies. Pointing to comments made by UC President Michael Drake in November 2023 stating that students have faced “outright violence,” Lerman said: “Usually you would expect an immediate response at that point.”

Alyza Lewin Features in Touro University Webinar

Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin was among the featured panelists in Touro University’s Touro Talks 2024 Distinguished Lecture Series, “Antisemitism on College Campuses and Beyond.”

View President Lewin’s conversation with U.S. District Judge, Honorable Roy K. Altman, Touro University President Dr. Alan Kadish, and ‘Touro Talks’ Director Nahum Twersky.

LDB Holds Capitol Hill Policy Briefing on Disturbing Trend: Retaliation Against Jewish Whistleblowers Exposing Campus Anti-Semitism

The Brandeis Center hosted a July 10 Capitol Hill policy briefing titled “Retaliation Against Jewish Students and Parents: How Counter-complaints and Baseless Accusations are Being Weaponized to Silence Jewish Voices on Campus.” The event highlighted disturbing accounts of anti-Semitism alongside troubling and derelict administrative responses. Brandeis Center Board Member Tevi Troy served as moderator, and Brandeis Center Senior Counsel Mark Goldfeder, Staff Attorney Deena Margolies, and Staff Attorney Ben Alkon all presented as panelists.

Emory and American University students, and the parent of a child enrolled in the Berkeley Unified School District shared their personal experiences with university administrators – who were indifferent to campus anti-Semitism and allowed baseless counter-complaints against the Jewish students to proceed.

In her concluding remarks, Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin explained that the experiences shared by the student and parent panelists are not isolated instances but are emblematic of a systematic effort to delegitimize and chill claims of anti-Semitism. She stressed the important responsibility universities have to recognize and dismiss such malicious complaints and highlighted the definition of anti-Semitism as a vital tool for distinguishing between good-faith political debates and anti-Semitism.

Read more about the policy briefing from Brandeis Center Intern Nicole Hirschkorn and watch the recorded briefing here.

Brandeis Center Hires Senior Litigator Kami Z. Barker

Accomplished trial attorney, disability policy advisor, and former intergovernmental lobbyist Kami Z. Barker joins the Brandeis Center as its newest senior litigator as part of its continued expansion.

“The Brandeis Center is happy to welcome Kami and looks forward to seeing her contributions to fighting the onslaught of anti-Semitism in our educational systems,” said LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “Kami is joining our team when the demand for our legal services is higher than ever,” said Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin.

“It’s my privilege to join the Brandeis Center’s fight to ensure that no one is forced to tolerate hate speech on campus or in the workforce,” affirmed Ms. Barker.

In response to the growing demand for our services, the Brandeis Center continues to expand its team, initiatives, and policy-driven work. LDB will continue to hire legal and other staff throughout 2024. Professionals with strong experience and interest in joining LDB’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism are encouraged to watch the opportunities section of LDB’s website – and subscribe to the organization’s mailing list.

Kenneth Marcus to Feature in American Jewish University Webinar July 30: “Using Law to Fight Antisemitism on College Campuses”

Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus will feature in an American Jewish University webinar on July 30, exploring the utility of using Title VI and other civil rights laws to fight anti-Semitism on college campuses.

The event is free, and we encourage you to register for what will surely be an engrossing conversation between Chairman Marcus and AJU President Jeffrey Herbst.

Brandeis Center Interns

The Brandeis Center’s summer interns have been busy writing about the latest developments in the fight against anti-Semitism. Jonah Feuerstein authored two new blog posts chronicling the testimony of LDB clients before Congress. Nicole Hirschkorn authored two more posts, one detailing LDB’s latest policy briefing, and another covering the recently issued “Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism,” to which the U.S. is a party. Eli Goldstein authored the press release announcing the hiring of Kami Z. Barker.

The Brandeis Center is Hiring

The Brandeis Center is hiring for multiple full-time positions:

New York Litigation Attorney
Staff Attorney (New York; Washington, D.C.; or remote)
Director of Development ( Washington, D.C.; New York; or remote)
Executive Assistant (Washington, D.C. ǀ Telework)

Duties, qualifications, and compensation are listed in the Opportunities section of our website.

If you meet the qualifications and are passionate about our mission to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all, we want to hear from you. Interested candidates should send resumes and cover letters by electronic mail to info@brandeiscenter.com. For the attorney roles, we suggest also including a writing sample and list of references.

Brandeis Center Client Ilana Kopmar, a Nassau County Legal Aid attorney and member of UAW Local 2325, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA), testified in front of Congress on July 9, 2024, at a hearing on anti-Semitism faced by labor union members held by the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee.

Ms. Kopmar recounted her experience as a Jewish member of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, the anti-Semitic hostile environment within the union that focused relentless on attacking the Jewish state of Israel and its supporters, and efforts to expel her and three other ALAA members for opposing the union’s anti-Semitism.

“Zionism, the belief in the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in our ancestral homeland is as integral to my Jewish identity as keeping Kosher or observing the Sabbath,” Kopmar stated. Her testimony proceeded to explain how her Jewish identity was suppressed.

Ms. Kopmar also referenced a resolution adopted by the ALAA weeks after October 7, 2023, that amounted to a 1,147-word diatribe against the existence of the Jewish state, wherein the Hamas massacre, a pogrom unrivaled since the Holocaust, merited only seven words of passing mention as “the violent tragedy on October 7, 2023.”

Indeed, months later, “when Jewish Zionist members introduced a resolution to free the hostages, the immediate response on [K-12 online safety management platform] Gaggle was ‘LMAO’ (laughing my ass off),” she relayed. The hostage resolution was portrayed online as “[coming from] a small Zionist minority attempting to disrupt the ALAA.”

Ms. Kopmar upbraided her union leadership and reminded it of its responsibility to its Jewish members: “Union leadership has a duty to protect its members from bias and discrimination, not foster attacks against its Jewish and non-Jewish Zionist members. This is not how a union should act, and we should be forced to support the discriminatory actions.”

In the Q&A portion of the hearing, several Representatives asked Ms. Kopmar about whether the passage of the ceasefire resolution has dampened ALAA union participation among Israel-supporting members. She stressed that ALAA has fostered a culture which disincentivizes participation from its members who believe in a Jewish state. Ms. Kopmar explained that the ALAA has been more concerned with being a political machine than carrying out the basic duties of a union, such as bargaining and negotiation.

“Ilana Kopmar’s willingness to confront anti-Semitism within her union and speak publicly about it before Congress is a testament to her courage, and reflects the extraordinary harm being done to Jewish union members and their allies who have joined and supported their unions only to find that their unions have turned against them and wasted time, energy, and resources on promoting anti-Semitic agitprop rather than focusing on improving their members’ their wages, benefits, and working conditions,” said Rory Lancman, who represented Ms. Kopmar and is the Brandeis Center Director of Corporate Initiatives and Senior Counsel.

Ms. Kopmar’s testimony begins at 28:41

kopmar_testimony Download

Author: Jonah Feuerstein

Published by New York Post on 7/9/24; Story by Carl Campanile

A Jewish civil rights group is suing the union repping taxpayer-funded Legal Aid lawyers for allegedly retaliating against three members who objected to its antisemitic practices.

The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys initiated proceedings to expel the three Nassau County members — Ilana Kopmar, Diane Clarke and Isaac Altman — after they filed a lawsuit last year to block the union from passing a one-sided pro-Hamas resolution that only condemned Israel for the war. Read the rest of the article here.

Published by New York Post on 7/9/24; Story by Carl Campanile

A Jewish civil rights group is suing the union repping taxpayer-funded Legal Aid lawyers for allegedly retaliating against three members who objected to its antisemitic practices.

The union’s hate-filled resolution also supported a boycott movement against Israel — which only invaded Gaza after the Palestinian terror group Hamas launched a sneak massacre on the Jewish state Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly innocent civilians.

Both sides are still at war, with Israel unleashing devastating blows on the Gaza Strip, killing thousands of civilians and displacing hundreds of thousands more as Hamas refuses to surrender.

The union approved the divisive resolution in December, with 1,067 votes in favor to 570 opposed.

The move was condemned by the union’s main employer, the Legal Aid Society, which receives hundreds of millions of dollars in city and state funds to provide free legal services to poor criminal defendants and other needy New Yorkers.

“Anti-Semitism in a union isn’t any less objectionable than anti-Semitism on a college campus, in a public school, or at a workplace,” said Ken Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, whose group Tuesday filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against ALAA, Local 2325 of the United Auto Workers, and 28 individual union officers and members.

The plaintiffs said the resolution approved by the union and statements and other messages on its internal email boards reeked of Jew-hatred, including “River to the Sea” posts construed as calling for destroying the state of Israel.

The resolution and messages also included support for Hamas that ignored the terror group’s attack; antisemitic tropes such as saying “Jewish donations” caused the Legal Aid Society and other employers to denounced the resolution; claims that Jewish ALAA members have dual loyalty to Israel; questioning of the ability of Jewish lawyers to represent minority clients; and even blaming Israel for police misconduct in the United States.

“Zionism is integral to Jewish identity, but plaintiffs — proud unionists who have dedicated their professional lives to serving poor and disadvantaged clients — didn’t need to be Zionists, or in one case, even Jewish, to understand that anti-Semitism is antithetical both to their obligations as lawyers and to the mission of a union responsible for representing the interests of all its members,” said Rory Lancman, senior counsel at the Brandeis Center and a former Queens councilman.

One anti-Israel union member said in an email of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis, “You keep talking about ‘Jewish babies being murdered,’ and women being raped, you’re simply spreading lies and misinformation. There is no proof or substantiation. There are no pictures…”

Four ALAA members identified as defendants in the lawsuit filed union charges against the plaintiffs, putting in motion the disciplinary proceedings to oust them from the union, the suit said.

That’s brazen retaliation of the plaintiffs’ rights to sue and violations under federal labor law and New York state and New York City anti-discrimination laws, the lawsuit claimed.

The plaintiffs, whose lawyers also include Lieb at Law, called for the court to stop the union from punishing them, as well as unspecified damages.

The UAW Local 2325, Legal Aid Attorneys union, did not respond to a Post request for comment.

Complaint_Final – 7.8.24 Download

Federal District Court Complaint Against the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys Union for Undertaking Acts to Expel and Otherwise Discipline Jewish and Non-Jewish Zionist Members in Retaliation for Opposing the Union’s Infamous Anti-Semitic Resolution Attacking Israel

July 9, 2024 (Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Lieb at Law, P.C. filed a federal District Court complaint against the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325 (“the ALAA”) and individual union officials for undertaking acts to expel and otherwise discipline two Jewish and one Non-Jewish ally from the union in retaliation for their lawsuit opposing the ALAA’s anti-Semitic discriminatory practices manifested in the now infamous ALAA resolution attacking Israel soon after the October 7th terror attacks.

Complaint_Final – 7.8.24 Download

240708 ALAA release FINAL Download

The resolution opposed by the plaintiffs was so vile that several non-profit legal services providers employing ALAA’s members felt compelled to denounce it as anti-Semitic and unrepresentative of their values, including plaintiffs’ employer, the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, as well as The Legal Aid Society (which serves New York City), and the New York Legal Assistance Group (the Bronx Defenders issued a statement condemning a similarly anti-Semitic statement made by its chapter of the ALAA).

Said the Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center, “Anti-Semitism in a union isn’t any less objectionable than anti-Semitism on a college campus, in a public school, or at a workplace. The Brandeis Center will hold accountable everyone responsible for trying to expel Jewish and non-Jewish members alike whose Zionism, sense of professional obligation to their clients, and basic decency compelled them to oppose the ALAA’s discriminatory and anti-Semitic practices, especially the ALAA’s profoundly anti-Semitic and destructive anti-Israel resolution that over a third of its members ultimately rejected.”

Said the Hon. Rory Lancman, Director of Corporate Initiatives & Senior Counsel at the Brandeis Center, “Zionism is integral to Jewish identity, but plaintiffs — proud unionists who have dedicated their professional lives to serving poor and disadvantaged clients — didn’t need to be Zionists, or in one case, even Jewish, to understand that anti-Semitism is antithetical both to their obligations as lawyers and to the mission of a union responsible for representing the interests of all its members.”

Said Andrew M. Lieb, Managing Partner of Lieb at Law, P.C., “No American should be retaliated against for fighting against what they sincerely believe is anti-Semitism and its consequences, which is why federal and local law clearly prohibit unions from conditioning union membership upon acquiescing to discrimination. We fight for all employees, of all religious faiths, who all have a right to be both true to their identity while also benefiting from unionization in leveraging concerted activity in negotiating optimal terms of employment.”

The anti-Semitic hostile environment within the ALAA represented a cornucopia of classic and modern anti-Semitism, including:

Calling for the end of the Jewish State and the denial of the Jewish People’s right to self-determination, which in the context of the October 7th massacre and the support for Hamas and Hezbollah expressed by other ALAA members plaintiffs understood as a call for further violence against Israel’s Jewish population;
Ignoring completely the October 7th Hamas Attack, or minimizing or denying its barbarity, in statements on the Israel/Hamas war;
Accusations that “Jewish donations” caused ALAA Employers to denounce the anti-Semitic statements of their employees;
Charges that Jewish ALAA members opposing the anti-Semitic rhetoric and resolution have dual loyalty to Israel;
Attacks on the willingness and ability of those Jewish ALAA Members to represent minority clients;
Blaming Israel for police misconduct in the United States;
Orwellian claims that the Jewish state is committing genocide in its campaign against Hamas and that opponents of the resolution support genocide, distorting the term beyond recognition; and,
Dehumanizing and demonizing the Jewish State of Israel through the constant repetition of outlandish and debunked sensationalized claims that Israel targeted Palestinian Civilians.

One representative email cited in the federal District Court complaint reads:

“You keep talking about ‘Jewish babies being murdered,’ and women being raped, you’re simply spreading lies and misinformation. There is no proof or substantiation. There are no pictures. Even soldiers on the ground HAVE NOT confirmed this. LA Times retracted what they said. Biden’s team had to retract what he said.”

The resolution which the plaintiffs initially successfully blocked amounted to a 1,147-word diatribe against the existence of the Jewish State, wherein the Hamas Massacre, a pogrom unrivaled since the Holocaust, merited only seven words of passing mention as “the violent tragedy on October 7, 2023.”

As the resolution was rushed to a vote of the ALAA’s membership, the three plaintiffs (two are Jewish, one is not) and a fourth ALAA member obtained a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) in state Supreme Court in Nassau County blocking the vote on the grounds that, among other things, the ALAA violated its duty of fair representation and would unethically undermine clients’ trust in their lawyers ability to represent them regardless of their Jewish Identity or views on Israel. As cited in this federal District Court complaint, the state court legal proceedings revealed numerous examples of the anti-Semitic environment at the ALAA. The TRO was extended once by the state Supreme Court and remained in place when the ALAA removed the case to federal District Court until, ultimately, it was dissolved and the vote proceeded, with over a third of the ALAA’s membership voting “no.” With the resolution passed, plaintiffs voluntarily withdrew their lawsuit as being moot.

Immediately and in express retaliation against plaintiffs for filing the state Supreme Court lawsuit opposing the ALAA’s discriminatory and anti-Semitic resolution, four ALAA members identified as defendants in this lawsuit filed union charges against plaintiffs as an act towards causing their expulsion and other discipline from the union, a brazenly illegal act under both federal labor law and federal, New York, and New York City anti-discrimination laws.

Incredibly, the ALAA approved the charges as valid and set a trial process in motion. The remaining individual defendants are ALAA officials who aided and abetted and/or voted to approve the charges against plaintiffs for trial. Plaintiffs have patiently waited for months for the United Auto Workers International Executive Board to decide an appeal of the charges filed by plaintiffs, leaving plaintiffs in an intolerable state of limbo. The pending expulsion proceeding hanging over plaintiffs’ heads has had the intended effect of chilling their engagement in protected activity within the union and their willingness to oppose the ALAA’s continued discriminatory anti-Semitic acts. This federal District Court Complaint includes seven counts alleging violations of federal labor law and New York State and New York City anti-discrimination laws. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief nullifying the expulsion proceedings against them and prohibiting the defendants from otherwise disciplining or retaliating against plaintiffs for having opposed the ALAA’s discriminatory practices, as well as seeking compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. (Plaintiffs have also filed a charge of discrimination with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.)