Board Update: Jack Londen
NCYL Board Member & Morrison Foerster Partner
“Jack has brought such wisdom, compassion, and dedication to NCYL, especially through his support of the organization’s legal advocacy on behalf of children and youth”
- NCYL Board Member & McKesson General Counsel Lori Schechter
Dedicated to using the law to advance justice, Jack Londen has supported NCYL’s efforts for over 40 years and has served as a Board Member for the past decade. A Partner at Morrison Foerster (MoFo), Jack has led complex, high-stakes commercial litigation including patent litigation, merger and acquisition arbitration, shareholder derivative cases, securities litigation, and antitrust cases in federal and state courts. Equally impressive is Jack’s commitment to using the law to advance civil rights through pro bono engagements and his long standing support of NCYL and many of our partner legal services organizations. Among other leadership roles, Jack has served as Executive Director of the California Access to Justice Commission, Co-Chair of National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a member of the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice, Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, and Standing Committee on Pro Bono & Public Service.
Jack’s support of NCYL began in the early 1980s, when then Executive Director John O’Toole requested his legal expertise to assist NCYL in navigating a challenge from the Legal Services Corporation. From there, Jack’s involvement deepened through a particularly contentious high-profile class action lawsuit that NCYL filed against the Nevada child welfare system, where Jack and MoFo’s pro bono support helped NCYL reach a settlement that would reform practices and protect children in Nevada in foster care. While on the NCYL Board of Directors, Jack stepped up again when Trump was elected to help NCYL dramatically expand our federal litigation, open our Washington D.C. Office, and inspire and attract brilliant attorneys to lead NCYL’s lawsuits against the new administration to defend children’s rights.
As a Board Member, Jack has been a strategic thought partner both on NCYL’s litigation--especially cases related to students’ rights and education equity--and on our organization’s overall growth and sustainability. Year after year, Jack has brought people in his network to NCYL, encouraging them to provide pro bono support, donate, join our staff, and offer their advice and guidance.
Jack has been instrumental in making NCYL what it is today. It has been an honor to have Jack on NCYL’s Board of Directors and we are so grateful for his service.