Compass Lexecon Receives Award from Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights for Pro Bono Work

A team from Compass Lexecon’s Oakland office, led by Bret Dickey, Jith Jayaratne, and Maya Meidan, received the Robert G. Sproul, Jr. Award from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is presented annually “to an exemplary partner who has contributed to the provision of legal services to under-represented communities and marshaled the resources of his firm to defend the rights of the disenfranchised.”

The Compass team analyzed extensive data collected from school districts in the counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara to assist the Lawyers’ Committee evaluate the extent to which there were racial and/or socioeconomic disparities in the placement of students in math classes and in disciplinary decisions made by the school district.

The Lawyers’ Committee praised the work of the Compass Lexecon team:

“The outstanding expertise of the Compass Lexecon team and their dedicated hours in collaboration with the Lawyers’ Committee over many months has been instrumental in advancing our legal challenges to the discriminatory placement and discipline of students of color and low-income.  Together, our advocacy is ensuring that hundreds of students have the right to remain in school and advance in college track high school coursework.”

Bret, Jith, and Maya were assisted on this project by several other Oakland staff members, including Sarah Tang, Danny Henn, Aniruddha Gupta, Alison Ge, and Kiana Ocean.