As chair of the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation’s new Access to Justice Initiatives Committee, Ann Bergen leads committee members in their charge to coordinate efforts to assess unmet civil legal needs, identify barriers to access, and evaluate and develop proposals to make systemic improvements to better meet or reduce civil legal needs.
It’s a big job, but one Bergen is well-suited for. A former legal aid attorney, current solo practitioner, and staunch supporter of expanding access to justice for all, Bergen is the perfect leader to bring together committee members representing legal aid, the Foundation’s board, the judiciary, and various community leaders whose work impacts or is impacted by the civil justice system. Her work throughout her career has prepared her for this moment.
“In private practice, and in nonprofit work, you see where there are challenges in the system,” she said. “You see where there are inequities and access to justice roadblocks.”
To talk to Bergen is to feel her passion for the law, her clients, and the legal profession. An alumna of Cleveland State University College of Law, she loved everything about law school, where she made many life-long friends. “The training law school provides for how to approach legal problems is a gift in how to approach life,” she said. “It’s impossible to come out the other side and see the world in black and white. Instead, the world becomes a million shades of gray.”
When she graduated from law school, she turned down a job offer from a big firm to work for The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, where she fell in love again with the pace and the caliber of lawyering. “I was surrounded by like-minded people, and there was a purpose and a higher cause to what we were doing,” she said.
Although she left legal aid to start her own practice in 1998, Bergen has remained heavily involved in supporting her former employer, joining its board in 2006 and serving as board president in 2013. In 2016, she received the prestigious John C. and Ginny Elam Pro Bono Award for handling pro bono cases for legal aid and for encouraging other attorneys to give their time and talent to pro bono service. An Ohio Access to Justice Foundation board member since 2018, Bergen steps into leading the Access to Justice Initiatives Committee ready to incorporate the lessons she’s learned along the way.
“With this committee, we can bring our individual perspectives together and then use that to identify overarching systemic changes to narrow the justice gap.”
The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation is the largest funder of civil legal services in Ohio. A gift to the Foundation supports Ohio’s legal aids.