About Us | STAFF
MARTHA BERGMARK
President & CEO
For President and CEO Martha Bergmark the Mississippi Center for Justice is “a coming home and a dream come true.” Martha grew up in Jackson and practiced law in Hattiesburg, but for the past 15 years, her home base was Washington, DC where she was Senior Vice President for Programs of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association and Executive Vice President of the Legal Services Corporation. She was the founding Executive Director of Southeast Mississippi Legal Service Corporation in Hattiesburg. She is a former Reginald Huber Smith Fellow and the recipient of the Kutak-Dodds Prize for her civil rights and legal aid work in Mississippi. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Oberlin College.
mbergmark@mscenterforjustice.org
DENISE ANTOINE Denise Antoine, a Gulf Coast native, joined MCJ'S Biloxi office in August, 2006, as Administrative Assistant. Before joining MCJ, Denise worked for several non-profit Gulf Coast organizations, including Moore Community House, Legal Services, South Mississippi AIDS Task Force and the Back Bay Mission. She currently serves as Secretary for Board of Directors of Moore Community House. Denise has two daughters, Ashley and Aviance. dantoine@mscenterfor justice.org
SHAKTI BELWAY
Shakti Belway, the Center’s new Skadden Fellow, arrived early last fall, following graduation from Stanford Law School in June, 2005. She will spend the next two years in Mississippi studying and augmenting the Center’s legal advocacy on behalf of equity in public education. A native of Santa Barbara, California, Shakti was awarded the bachelors degree in ethics politics and economics by Yale University in 2001.A Skadden Fellowship, often described as "a legal Peace Corps,” gives recipients the freedom to pursue public interest legal advocacy by giving them the latitude to create their own projects at public interest organizations such as MCJ. Shakti’s interest in childhood education derives from her experiences working with urban street children in Brazil, with child soldiers in Uganda and with economically disadvantaged children in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, Head Start Program.
sbelway@mscenterforjustice.org
NORMAN CHRONISTER
Norman Chronister, Policy & Communications Advocate Norman Chronister, Policy and Communications Advocate, is a native of Jackson. A graduate of Belhaven College, Norman worked for the state and federal governments for nearly 30 years. His experience includes work as an historian, congressional aide, policy developer, staff assistant in two governors’ administrations and human resources administration. Norman and his wife live in Jackson.
nchronister@mscenterforjustice.org
KIM DUFFY
In February Kim Seamster Duffy joined the Biloxi office as the Pro Bono Coordinator. Following graduation from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1988, she served as federal court law clerk. She then joined South Mississippi Legal Services as a staff attorney focusing on elder law and public benefits issues. After beginning her private, Kim helped Legal Services begin the Legal Hotline for Elder Mississippians.Kim is a founding member and President of Gulf Coast Down Syndrome Society, Inc., and currently serves as Secretary for Board of Directors of Jackson County Civic Action Committee.
kseamsterduffy@mscenterforjustice.org
MONICA GALLOWAY
Monica Galloway, Business Manager Monica Galloway, Business Manager, a native of Jackson and graduate of Jackson State University’s School of Business. Upon graduation form Jackson State, Monica was hired by Atlantic Richfield Corporation (ARCO/BP) to work in their oil and gas division in Dallas, TX. During her career with ARCO she lived in Texas, Colorado, and California working in business process engineerin and system implementations. She also worked on various projects in Australia and Mexico.
mgalloway@mscenterforjustice.org
ARCHELLA HOWARD
Archella Howard joined MCJ in May, 2006, and serves as Administrative Assistant. A Mississippi native, she grew up in Italy where her father was posted with the United States Army. Archella is a senior at Mississippi State University and will graduate in 2006 with a BA in banking and finance.
ahoward@mscenterforjustice.org
JOHN JOPLING
In October 2005, John Jopling became senior attorney of MCJ’s new Katrina Recovery Office in Biloxi. Until Katrina, he had practiced law in Ocean Springs since 1995, with a focus in the areas of consumer, housing, employment discrimination and personal injury. He serves as a volunteer lawyer on the pro bono panel of the Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, and from 2002 to 2004 was project manager of the Fair Housing Education Outreach Project funded by HUD at South Mississippi Legal Services. Before moving to Ocean Springs, Jopling was a clinical professor in the University of Mississippi School of Law Housing Law Clinic (1994-95). He also worked as a staff attorney (1985-87), senior staff attorney and housing and consumer law specialist (1987-90), and litigation director (1990-94) at Southeast Mississippi Legal Services. He began his legal career as a Mississippi Supreme Court law clerk (1984-85).
jjopling@mscenterforjustice.org
KAREN LASH
Karen Lash is one of the unique volunteers who arrived in Mississippi immediately after Katrina and has returned countless times. Her enthusiasm, knowledge and genuine concern have really made a difference in our ability to serve the neediest on the Coast. We have persuaded her to make our arrangement a bit more permanent as a part-time consultant. Lash is a former Associate Dean of the University of Southern California Law School; currently she is a consultant for law schools, nonprofits, and government agencies building community partnerships.
Karen@lash.us
TIFFANY MARSHALL
Tiffany Marshall joined MCJ in September. She is a Virginia native and a graduate of Hollins University and the University of Virginia School of Law. While in law school, Tiffany logged over 300 hours of pro bono service and served as president of the Public Interest Law Association in her third year. She received the Pro Bono Award and an award recognizing her contributions to the law school’s community at graduation in May. Tiffany will spend the next two years at the MCJ working to improve the provision of mental health services to juveniles detained throughout the state.
The Powell Fellowship, the University of Virginia School of Law’s only fellowship for students who wish to pursue public interest work, will fund Tiffany’s work with MCJ. The Fellowship honors former Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell and enables recipients to work in public interest law and to enhance the delivery of legal services to the poor under the sponsorship of apublic interest organization. tmarshall@mscenterforjustice.org
MERRILL MCKEWEN
Merrill McKewen, Public Relations and Fundraising Consultant Merrill McKewen has been involved in public relations, fundraising and strategic planning in Mississippi for almost twenty years. She established The McKewen Company, Inc., in 2001, consulting primarily with not-for-profit groups. Merrill has worked with MCJ since its inception.mmckewen@jam.rr.com
REILLY MORSE
In October 2005, Reilly Morse joined the staff MCJ’s new Katrina Recovery Office in Biloxi. Morse is a third generation Gulfport lawyer with more than 20 years experience in civil and criminal law. He has specialized in land use, zoning and environmental justice issues with pro bono and paying clients that include the low-income, minority and substantially elderly communities of North Gulfport and Turkey Creek, the MS Sierra Club, Concerned Citizens to Protect Isles and Point, and Citizens Association for Responsible Development. Morse is a former assistant municipal judge and assistant municipal prosecutor of the City of Gulfport. He is also a member of the Affordable Housing Committee of the Governor’s Recovery Commission and the Harrison County Recovery Committee. Morse is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law and Millsaps College, held a judicial clerkship with Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Michael Sullivan (1984-85), and is licensed to practice law in the state and federal courts of Mississippi.
rmorse@mscenterforjustice.org
BETH ORLANSKY Beth Orlansky joined MCJ in October, 2006, to work on a joint project with the Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative on issues involving child care subsidies for low income families. A native of Memphis, Beth got a BA in Anthropology from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. She was a charter member of the national board of Parents for Public Schools and has been actively involved on the boards of the Community Stewpot, International Ballet Competition, and Beth Israel Congregation. She and her husband Steve have three grown sons. borlansky@mscenterforjustice.org
YUMEKA RUSHING
Yumeka Rushing is graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta and Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham. She also holds a masters degree in publishing from Pace University in New York and has pursued Shakespearean studies at the University of Birmingham, England.Before joining the Mississippi Center for Justice, Ms. Rushing was an associate attorney with the firm Jackson firm of Pigott, Reeves, Johnson and Minor. There she was responsible for the firm’s silica mass tort practice. Prior to her admission to the bar she served as judicial law clerk to the Hon. Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr., U. S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.Yumeka is a native of Biloxi, and her public interest spirit was kindled after Hurricane Katrina when she co-founded the Fresh Start Foundation. This grassroots initiative has been strikingly successful in mobilizing human and financial resources to provide direct assistance, case management and advocacy for hurricane survivors, developing partnerships with other recovery efforts, and hosting and serving as advocate for the Hurricane Katrina Survivor Support Group.She and her husband Kelsey are the parents of two daughters, Kennedy (4) and Sydney (1).
Yumeka Rushing is admitted to the State Bar of Mississippi and State Bar of Alabama. Her professional affiliations include the Mississippi Bar Association, Magnolia Bar Association, the Hinds County Bar Association, the Alabama Bar Association and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
yrushing@mscenterforjustice.org
CRYSTAL UTLEY
Crystal Utley is the new AmeriCorps attorney in the Jackson office. She will work with AmeriCorps attorneys at Mississippi Center for Legal Services (one in Jackson and one in Hattiesburg) to upgrade the intake/advice/referral capacity of legal services and to recruit law student assistance in this effort.
A native of Jackson, Crystal is a graduate of the College of Charleston and a 2005 graduate of Mississippi College School of Law. She is licensed to practice in Mississippi, and was most recently an associate at the Hood Law Firm in Charleston, South Carolina, for the past year. Crystal has a strong record of public interest involvement, including regional management of MCJ’s 2004 Election Protection initiative; she is fluent in Spanish.
Mississippi Center for Justice
736 N. Congress St. (39202)
P.O. Box 1023
Jackson, MS 39215-1023
(601) 352-2269
fax (601) 352-4769