our board

Cathy Ferguson of Southgate, Michigan. [Bio coming soon]

Denzel McCampbell of Detroit, Michigan, is currently the Social Justice Organizer for Engage Michigan.  His work includes providing assistance to community groups throughout the city with media and communications.  Denzel also serves as the Policy Chair for the Detroit chapter of Black Youth Project (BYP) 100 - an organization fighting for the liberation of all black people through a queer and feminist lens. 

David D. Whitaker of Detroit, Michigan, has served since 2003 as chief legal advisor for the Detroit City Council and head of the Council’s Legislative Policy Division. David has successfully litigated major issues as Special Co-Counsel to the City Council. He also serves as a trustee of the Gospel Temple Missionary Baptist Church, on the Board of Advisors of Evergreen Children’s Services, and serves as a case evaluator for Wayne County Mediation Tribunal. 

Herb Sanders of Detroit, Michigan. [Bio coming soon].

Jeanne Mirer of New York, New York, practices civil rights and employment law. Among her clients are Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange who have taken to court the U.S. chemical companies that profited from manufacturing the poison. She is a member of the National Lawyers Guild, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, the National Employment Law Association, and the NAACP. Jeanne has been a moving force in the founding and leadership of the International Commission for Labor Rights. 

Jerome L. Reide of Lansing, Michigan, is a Public Policy adviser, Civil Rights activist, and Attorney with 25+ years serving at organizations, such as ACLU, NAACP, State Bar of Michigan and Michigan Department of Civil Rights. He is a highly regarded strategist and advocate in Public Policy Analysis, American Politics and Government, and Urban Economic Development and served as public policy counsel to the Appropriations Committee Chair in Michigan House of Representatives, aiding Chair of Wayne County Commission’s Ways and Means Committee and serving as a vital thought leader in Midwest progressive circles. Dr. Jerome Reide earned his Ph.D. in Political Science-Urban Studies from Michigan State University, where he also obtained his Master of Arts in Political Science. His has a law degree from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and an M.S. degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Sociology from the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Joan Hill of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an Education Representative with the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, or United Steelworkers. Joan regularly teaches legal subjects for the United Steelworkers across the region, and develops curriculum for the USW leadership program. She has been a speaker at numerous forums on the subject of immigration and Green Jobs as part of the Steelworkers’ Blue-Green Alliance with the Sierra Club.

Joseph Lipofsky of New York, New York, is an retired attorney whose experience includes serving as Deputy Counsel to the Attorney General of New York, as an attorney and Executive Director with legal service programs in New Jersey, Missouri, and Michigan, and representing labor unions. Joe also serves as a Board Member for Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A.

Julie Hurwitz of Detroit, Michigan, practices civil rights law in the firm of Goodman and Hurwitz, PC. Julie served as executive director for the Sugar Law Center for the first several years of its existence and again from 1998 to 2004. Clients in her private practice include victims of police misconduct and targets of attempts to stifle press freedom. 

Renée Quintero Sánchez of Los Angeles, California. [Bio coming soon]

Ria Julien of New York, New York.[Bio coming soon].

Tonya Myers Phillips of Detroit, Michigan. [Bio coming soon]

In memoriam:

William Goodman of Detroit, Michigan, See MetroTimes.

Debra Evenson of Chicago, Illinois. See Wikipedia.

Leonard Grossman of Detroit, Michigan. See MetroTimes.

our staff

OUR FOUNDERS

The Sugar Law Center arose from Maurice and Jane Sugar’s donation their estate to the newly formed Sugar Foundation.  The couple’s lives had been dedicated to work on behalf of poor and low-income people.  Five trustees were named to oversee the Foundation, with instructions that the assets were to be used to further economic and social justice. In 1990, the trustees established the SLC as a nonprofit center dedicated to this mission.