Center for Justice & Democracy
CJ&D Staff
The Center for Justice & Democracy has a dedicated professional staff committed to protecting the civil justice system.
CJ&D - National Office
- Joanne Doroshow, Executive Director
- Emily Gottlieb, Deputy Director
- Amy Widman, Attorney/Policy Analyst
- Emily Denadel, Development Director
- Amanda Melpolder, Senior Field Organizer
- Daniel Albanese, Administrative Director
Joanne Doroshow is the founder and executive director of the Center for Justice & Democracy and co-founder of Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR). An attorney, Doroshow has worked on civil justice issues since 1986, when she directed an insurance industry liability project for Ralph Nader. Together, they developed some of the first educational materials used to fight "tort reform" around the country including Goliath: Lloyd's of London in the United States (1988) and Safeguarding Democracy: The Case for the Civil Jury (1992). As CJ&D Executive Director, she has testified before the U.S. Congress many times and appeared before numerous state legislatures around the country.
Doroshow has written or co-authored numerous CJ&D studies and White Papers on civil justice issues including Premium Deceit: The Failure of "Tort Reform" to Cut Insurance Prices, The CALA Files: The Secret Campaign by Big Tobacco and Other Major Industries to Take Away Your Rights and The Racial Implications of Tort Reform. She also edited Lifesavers: CJ&D's Guide to Lawsuits that Protect Us All, The Secret Chamber, Workers Compensation- A Cautionary Tale, How the Civil Justice System Protects Environmental Health and many other CJ&D publications.
Doroshow is a nationally recognized civil justice expert, frequently appearing on television and radio programs on CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN, and NPR. She is regularly quoted in newspapers nationwide, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times. Doroshow has film and television experience as well. She was one of the producers of the 1992 Academy Award-winning documentary, The Panama Deception, and has worked on the theatrical, broadcast and video distribution of a number of films. In 1994 and 1995, she was coordinating producer for TV Nation, the Emmy Award-winning humorous political show by Michael Moore. She is also a coordinating producer on the documentary SiCKO (2007).
From 1981 through 1985, Doroshow was lead counsel and spokesperson for TMI Alert, a community group working to block the restart of the TMI-1 nuclear reactor after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and whose case reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1992, she worked on the successful Supreme Court appeal of the Karen Silkwood case. From 1989 to 1990, Doroshow was the director of California-based Bhopal Justice Campaign, a coalition of community groups and leaders fighting for statewide support for victims of the India gas disaster.
Emily is an attorney who is one the organization's principal writers and analysts. Prior to joining CJ&D in 2000, Emily was a volunteer attorney with the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Community Outreach Law Program, Legal Clinic for the Homeless. She was a student law clerk for Federal Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis and New York County Civil Court Justice Alice Schlesinger, a Mediator with the Brooklyn Law School Mediation Clinic, and an intern with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. She received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1998.
Amy provides legislative and policy analysis and research to CJ&D. The author of a number of law reviews and White Papers, she helps develop policy positions and educational campaigns to preserve the civil justice system. Amy is an attorney with experience in advocacy, legislative and public policy analysis on issues of environmental and economic rights, especially urban environmental issues and land use planning. Before joining CJ&D, Amy was a post-graduate research fellow at New York University's School of Law's Center for Environmental and Land Use Law. Amy has taught legal research and writing at Cardozo Law School and has also taught at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment. She clerked for U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore H. Katz (SDNY). Amy is a graduate of NYU School of Law.
Emily coordinates CJ&D's development and fundraising efforts. She has worked for a number of progressive campaigns and advocacy groups including America Coming Together, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Council of Jewish Women and the Washington office of Senator Tom Harkin. Emily received her master's degree in Public and Non-Profit Management from New York University.
Amanda comes to CJ&D from the Innocence Project, where she was organizing in multiple states around criminal justice reforms. Prior to that, she was a private investigator at an international research and investigation firm where she mainly focused on researching the gun industry's distribution practices. She got her start in the fight for social justice at the Connecticut Citizen's Action Group (CCAG). Over the years, Amanda has worked for legislators in the Connecticut General Assembly, worked on dozens of successful state-level political campaigns as well as done research for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to fight for better access to health care. She has master's degree in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from the New School University and has done political campaign training at the Women's Campaign School at Yale.
Daniel designs all of CJ&D's publications, coordinates the membership program and handles most of the administrative aspects of the Center for Justice & Democracy. He previously worked at Fordham Law School, where he helped organize educational programs and events for the Career Planning Center. Daniel majored in Cultural Anthropology at SUNY New Paltz, and currently serves on the Professional Advisory Board of Take Back the News
CJ&D - Illinois Office
- Jason Held, CJ&D – Illinois Staff Director
- Eric Bell, CJ&D – Illinois Field Organizer
Jason is the Staff Director for CJ&D - Illinois. Jason has been involved with many non-profits, working on issues ranging from GLBT Rights to labor and employment issues to the arts. In Chicago, he worked on Tammy Duckworth's congressional campaign and for a non-profit professional theater. After working in various capacities in both politics and marketing in Washington and Los Angeles, he returned to school and received his law degree from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Eric joins CJ&D-IL as Field Organizer. He previously worked as a community organizer for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). There, Eric worked on campaigns against predatory lending and unfair foreclosures. He graduated from Grinnell College in 2007 with a degree in political science.