President's Charge to Judith Sandalow ’84

As a young, court-appointed public defender working with teenagers in Washington, D.C., you got to know your clients as children, not just as defendants, and every day saw the impact that poverty had on their lives.

When you were recruited to lead the Children’s Law Center there, you had a strong reputation as a trial lawyer, but no previous experience with fundraising, organizational leadership, or recruiting and managing pro-bono attorneys. But given your passion to help the community of which you — as a foster and adoptive parent yourself — were a part, you learned.

At the time, the CLC had three staff members. Today, after more than 25 years under your leadership and now with more than 100 attorneys and professional staff, the CLC expands access to justice for thousands of the district’s most vulnerable children and families each year — because, as you have said, the fight for equal justice is first a fight for access to justice.

Judith Sandalow, with tenacity, empathy, and consistently high standards, you have devoted your career in public service to, as you counsel others, seizing the power you have and working for change. Now, upon the recommendation of the faculty, and by the power vested in me by the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I have the honor to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Laws.