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Amanda joined the ALRP Board when two long-time Board members from Jones Day, where she’s an Associate, were ready to step down. “I’d already expressed an interest in learning more about ALRP,” she said. “It was important for me to do something to support the LGBT community. Coming to the Bay Area it’s been startling for me to see how big an impact HIV/AIDS still has in this community.

Our family lost my uncle to AIDS 25 years ago,” said ALRP Board member Matt Richards. “He passed away right on the cusp of when antiretroviral treatments were becoming effective. So for my family, AIDS has always been a deeply personal issue, and my involvement with ALRP has been a way for me to honor him. To be involved in the fight he wasn’t able to carry through himself.”

When ALRP Staff Attorney Dmitri Pikman’s elderly client was in danger of being evicted, he knew it was going to take more than a persuasive letter to solve his client’s problems. “In addition to being HIV+ the client had a host of other disabilities,” said Dmitri. “He’d been living in his apartment building for over twenty years, and his housing was in jeopardy because the landlord needed to do building-wide pest control measures…”

When she looks back on her 10-year ALRP career, Managing Attorney Sara Malan remembers the people she’s served. “Soon after I started at ALRP as a staff attorney I did my first emergency will,” she said. “I went to the hospital to help a client. It was very emotional, and I was so glad to have done something so useful…”