Washington Lawyer - May/June 2024 - 37

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
'SERENDIPITOUS STUMBLES'
Pershing took that ebullience for justice to the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia
after graduation. He served as its legal director
from 1989 to 1996, handling civil rights and
civil liberties cases. He arrived at a critical moment
for the state chapter, which at the time
was advocating important voting rights cases
as Virginia wrestled with how to apply the Voting
Rights Act to compel local and state officials
to draw fair election districts.
" I was the lucky beneficiary of some serendipitous
stumbles in my career. When I graduated
and finished my clerkship and was looking for
a job, I found the Virginia ACLU legal director
position at the right time, " says Pershing. " The
office had been more involved in racial vote
dilution litigation on behalf of minority voters
than any other ACLU office in the country. I was
at the center of the conversation. "
" I thought the ACLU was known for free speech
[cases] and not so well known back then for
civil rights work, but suddenly I was getting to
be a civil rights lawyer. I was bitten by the bug, "
says Pershing.
From 1996 to 2005, he served as a senior attorney
in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department
of Justice (DOJ), litigating for minority
voting rights again. After leaving DOJ, Pershing
served for four years as senior counsel
at the boutique firm Center for Constitutional
Litigation, P.C. in Washington, D.C., which handles
high-profile civil justice cases of the U.S.
Supreme Court and federal and state appellate
courts.
Starting in the 2010s, Pershing has swung between
his own boutique practice and serving
as of counsel to several plaintiff-side litigation
firms, including Hall & Sethi PLC (now Sethi &
Sledd, PLLC), Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown
& Nadelhaft, P.C., and The Chavers Firm, LLC.
Today, Pershing focuses mainly on representing
employees experiencing discrimination,
though he still fights for voting rights as a volunteer
with the Election Official Legal Defense
Network.
Pershing says he feels keenly what his employee
clients are going through in the District of
Columbia, a place where people define themselves
to a great extent by their work. " Stories
of workplace unfairness, even cruelty, especially
but not only by supervisors against their
subordinates, are far too common here and everywhere, "
says Pershing. " Sometimes litigation
MAY/JUNE 2024 * WASHINGTON LAWYER 37
is the only way to get bad bosses' claws out of
their employees' backs. "
" The ultimate purpose of this work, for all of us
who do it, is to help brave people stand up for
everyone's civil rights and to combat unlawful
discrimination in all its forms, " Pershing adds.
" The modern U.S. civil rights movement is now
over half a century old, and it has become a beacon
to the world even as the society that birthed
it continues to struggle with its demons. "
In these highly charged times, Pershing is a realist,
acknowledging the numerous assaults on
civil rights across the country today. " In the short
term, I'm a pessimist, but I'm a hopeless romantic
optimist in the long term, " Pershing says. " I
don't believe the regressions, political and social,
that we are experiencing are permanent, even if
they exceed the length of my own life. "
" I take comfort and inspiration, as I believe all
civil rights lawyers do, from the 2,000-year-old
bit of Jewish wisdom that says, 'It is not necessary
to finish the work, but neither may you desist
from it,' " Pershing continues.
MEANINGFUL LONGEVITY
In addition to standing up for others, Pershing
commits himself to educating the next generation
of attorneys. He has taught voting rights
law as an adjunct professor at the George
Washington University Law School for more
than two decades, as well as at the William &
Mary Law School and at American University
Washington College of Law.
From 2009 to 2011, Pershing was the first fulltime
director of the UCDC Law Program, an intensive
Washington semester program for the
law schools of the University of California. The
program combined a weekly seminar course
with full-time field placement. In 2011 Pershing
founded a similar program of his own, the
Washington Consortium for Law Externships
and Exchange.
Pershing's longevity and dedication wouldn't
be a surprise to anyone who knows him. He has
taken a number of cross-country bicycle rides,
both on his own and with his brother. The longest
two were from New York to San Francisco
in 1976 and from Tucson to Seattle via British
Columbia in 1979. " I have managed to cross the
continental divide on a bicycle several times, "
Pershing says.
Today, Pershing is more than twice the age of
his father when he died and has done much to
make those extra years count for him and others.
His stewardship and love for his family have
kept him focused on the future and on trying
to make a difference in his career.
" When I reached 32 and 33, I realized what a big
deal it was that [my father] died so young, " says
Pershing. " But now, at 66, I feel totally spoiled.
Even now when I recognize my life is nowhere
near over, I realize how very lucky I have been to
have had so much more time than my father
did. "
Sarah Kellogg is a freelance writer based in the
Washington, D.C., area.
Courtesy of Stephen Pershing
Washington Lawyer - May/June 2024

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