Litigation
Jun. 15, 2002
What Really Matters
Top 30 Women Litigators - Jennifer Pizer - Whenever Jennifer Pizer, a senior staff attorney at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, is stressed and overworked, she looks at the pictures of children that decorate her office. Most of these children's parents are gay and lesbian couples.
Jennifer Pizer
Whenever Jennifer Pizer, a senior staff attorney at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, is stressed and overworked, she looks at the pictures of children that decorate her office. Most of these children's parents are gay and lesbian couples.
"It's important both as a counterbalance to the stress of litigation and a reminder of why we are here and what matters," Pizer says.
Established in 1973, Lambda promotes the civil rights of gays, lesbians and those afflicted with HIV or AIDS.
The 42-year-old attorney gave up her patent and antitrust litigation practice at San Francisco's Townsend and Townsend and Crew in 1995 to work for Lambda. Although entering the nonprofit sector cut her salary by a third, Pizer has no regrets.
"It's a testament to how deeply I feel about Lambda," Pizer, a graduate of New York University School of Law, says. "We're compensated different ways in our lives. There may be less fiscal compensation [at Lambda], but there is incalculable personal satisfaction."
Pizer handles litigation involving domestic partner benefits at Lambda's Los Angeles office. Often, she assists people who've had their partners die before they've drawn up a will. Because the federal government doesn't recognize same-sex unions, the surviving partner can sometimes lose their home or child, Pizer says.
Currently, she's helping obtain federal assistance for a man whose partner died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Representing people whose partner[s] died suddenly has had an impact on me that I feel daily," Pizer says. "It creates a sense of urgency in my work and makes me want to help change the law and public understanding as much as I possibly can."
Marisa Navarro
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