Davis Wright Tremaine's Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion began 2025 with a discussion with leadership from the ACLU. This program was part of our regular DEI Education series.
With a new presidential administration, we have seen headlines about policy shifts and uncertainty. With change on the horizon, our event featured ACLU leaders Michele Storms, Executive Director of ACLU Washington, and Angélica Salceda, Director Democracy and Civic Engagement Program for the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, who discussed how to navigate the uncertainty.
In her role, Storms works closely with her staff and board to operationalize national and local ACLU affiliates on strategic initiatives and advocacy. She is the former Deputy Director of the ACLU of Washington, and previous Assistant Dean for Public Service and executive director of the William H. Gates Public Service Law program at the University of Washington School of Law.
Salceda's work focuses on voting rights, open government and free speech issues. She supervises a team of attorneys and legal-policy assistants in this work. In her previous role as a staff attorney at the ACLU, she worked on a range of issues including immigrants' rights, economic justice, and reproductive justice.
During this event, we discussed threat areas the ACLU has identified as needing immediate attention with the change in presidential administrations, the interrelatedness of issues, how historical experience will drive the next response, and what people can do to get involved. This event was moderated by litigation partner and co-chair of the Attorneys of Color Affinity Group, Ken Payson.
Speakers
- Angélica Salceda
- Michele Storms
- Ken Payson (Moderator)