Jason T. Vail

Jason T. Vail, Senior Attorney with the American Bar Association Division for Legal Services and Chief Counsel to the Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP)

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Jason T. Vail has devoted his legal career to the practice of law in the public interest by working to expand access to justice for those facing barriers to our legal system. He is currently a Senior Attorney and Chief Counsel to the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP), supporting the Committee's efforts to enhance and improve the scope and availability of civil legal services available to active-duty military personnel and their families. He has led development of two significant initiatives expanding access to justice for servicemembers: ABA Home Front, an online legal resource for military families; and the ABA Military Pro Bono Project, a first-of-its-kind national referral network connecting active-duty servicemembers worldwide with pro bono representation by volunteer attorneys.Jason has additionally worked to promote professionalism and support the administration of justice by the bench and bar as communications consultant to the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism and served as legal editor of Clearinghouse Review: A Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, published by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. His prior legal practice includes seven years as a staff attorney in the Seattle office of Northwest Justice Project, Washington State’s largest statewide legal aid program, providing free legal counsel to low-income clients in civil matters. While in Seattle, Jason served on the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors and taught courses on legal ethics and legal research and writing.Jason received his B.A. in Business Administration from Eastern Washington University and his J.D. cum laude from Gonzaga University School of Law, where he was managing editor of Gonzaga Law Review and a National Moot Court competitor. He is currently admitted to practice in Illinois and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Military Affairs Committee.

Chief Counsel at American Bar Association

October 2010 - Present | Chicago, IL

Chief Counsel to the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel, supporting the Committe'€™s work to foster the continued growth of the military legal assistance programs; to promote the delivery of legal services to military personnel and their family members outside the United States on their personal legal affairs; and to maintain close liaison with the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security (with respect to the U.S. Coast Guard), the military services, bar associations and appropriate committees of the Association to enhance the scope, quality and delivery of free or affordable legal services to eligible military legal assistance clients. Also serving as assistant counsel for the Standing Committee on Lawyers' Professional Liability and the Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Service, producing three conferences annually with over 1,000 registrants, in addition to numerous other, highly-visible projects for the two committees.

Communications Consultant at Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism

July 2010 - May 2012 | Chicago, IL

Managing and implementing communications projects designed to promote among the lawyers and judges of Illinois principles of integrity, professionalism and civility; to foster commitment to the elimination of bias and divisiveness within the legal and judicial systems; and to ensure that those systems provide equitable, effective and efficient resolution of problems and disputes for the people of Illinois.

Staff Counsel/Project Director at American Bar Association

April 2008 - October 2010 | Chicago, IL

Directing the ABA Military Pro Bono Project, a unique collaboration between military legal assistance and the private bar, housed in the ABA Division for Legal Services and sponsored by the Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP) and the Section of Litigation. The Project delivers free civil legal representation to enlisted, active-duty servicemembers stationed around the world and to their families. Duties have included design and launch of a custom online intake-and-referral system, case review and analysis, consultation with military legal assistance, case placement with pro bono attorneys and firms, public speaking and CLE presentation, Project promotion through writing and outreach, and regular reporting to TJAGs, ABA LAMP, and Project stakeholders.

Staff Attorney - Legal Editor at Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

April 2006 - July 2010 | Chicago, IL

Legal editing Clearinghouse Review: A Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, the premier national journal for training, educating, and informing legal services attorneys for more than forty years. Specific initiatives have included work to enhance the publication’s online accessibility and interactivity, and coordinating single-topic special issues.

Staff Attorney at Northwest Justice Project

May 2001 - January 2008 | Seattle, WA

Providing a range of legal services to clients of Washington's largest civil legal aid program for the poor, including advice, brief service, referral, and representation, along with private attorney involvement program administration. Litigation experience included informal and administrative hearings, and state superior and appellate court litigation, notably In re Halls, 126 Wash. App. 599, 109 P.3d 15 (2005), which clarifies the scope of the right to counsel in civil contempt proceedings.

Adjunct Professor at Central Washington University

April 2007 - December 2007 | Seattle, WA

Teaching courses on legal research and legal report writing for the College of Science's Law and Justice Program.

Adjunct Instructor at Highline Community College

January 2005 - April 2007 | Seattle, WA

Teaching courses on legal ethics, legal research, and legal writing for an ABA-accredited paralegal studies program.

Legal Extern at Columbia Legal Services

August 2000 - May 2001

Working on predatory lending cases in a legal externship project jointly sponsored by Northwest Justice Project.

Legal Intern at University Legal Assistance

January 2000 - May 2001 | Spokane, WA

As a general practice intern, primary responsibility was a challenge to felon disenfranchisement using the federal Voting Rights Act, Farrakhan v. Washington, No. 96-76-RHW (E.D. Wash. Dec. 1, 2000), reversed and remanded by 338 F.3d 1009 (9th Cir. 2003).

Program Assistant at Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs

May 1999 - July 2000 | Spokane, WA

Providing legal support for low-income housing and social services, with a particular emphasis in homeless services, and public housing and landlord-tenant law.

Art Director/Account Executive at Gross-Hatch & Associates

May 1994 - October 1998 | Spokane, WA

Managing print production for all agency clients as a designer and art director, and managing accounts for Inland Northwest Wildlife Council and F&M Bank.

Gonzaga University School of Law

1998 – 2001

J.D. (cum laude)

Concentration: Public Interest Law

Activities: Phi Delta Phi, Gonzaga Law Review, National Moot Court

Eastern Washington University

1992 – 1996

BA

Concentration: Business, Economics

Colville High School

1988 – 1992

Diploma

Concentration: HS