The George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice will present the “Pursuing Justice: When Lawyering Collides with Powerful Interests” Symposium at LSU Law on Friday, March 10.
The symposium will take place in the McKernan Auditorium from 11:30 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. It is free and open to the public, and attendees will have the opportunity to earn CLE credits. RSVP to attend.
Melissa J. Hordichuk, executive director and managing attorney for the Access to Justice Project, and Leroy Maxwell Jr., an attorney with the Maxwell + Tillman law firm, will be the featured speakers.
Hordichuk is the founder of the Access to Justice Project, a not-for-profit approach to legal services. She has been providing pro- and low-bono legal services to people across North Carolina since 2020. Her recent representations include winning an acquittal for a college student who was wrongly prosecuted for falsely reporting a sexual assault and a wrongful death claim by an undocumented family against one of the largest healthcare systems in the country. Hordichuk earned her J.D. from Georgetown University and lives in Charlotte. Her symposium presentation is titled “Finding the Courage to Create Change.”
Maxwell is a founding partner of the Maxwell + Tillman, which is based in Birmingham, and his practice focuses on appellate litigation, civil rights, and criminal defense. Over his career, he has recovered more than $16 million for personal injury and civil rights clients. Prior to founding Maxwell + Tillman, he was a senior civil litigator and criminal defense trial lawyer, and he also previously worked as a fellow with the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative. He earned his J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana. His symposium presentation is titled “Out Gunned, Out Manned, yet Undefeated – The Small Firm Advantage.”
The George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice provides support for research and educational activities that promote justice for individuals in the administration of the criminal and civil justice systems in Louisiana and elsewhere. The Institute achieves its mission in partnership with the Louisiana Law Review, as well as student and community, and public interest organizations, sponsoring symposia that foster publication and electronic distribution of related research, as well as bringing to the LSU campus speakers who enrich public dialogue related to the achievement and protection of individual rights. The Pugh Institute was founded in 1998.
