Shook Partner Selected to LSC Emerging Leaders Council

The Legal Services Corporation has selected Shook Partner Russell Shankland to serve as a member of the Emerging Leaders Council. This new council, established in 2019, is dedicated to raising awareness of the civil legal aid crisis in America while working toward providing equal access to justice.

“From working as a Peace Corps volunteer to making pro bono integral to my law practice, I have always aspired to the ideal of community service,” Shankland said. “I am honored and excited to join LSC’s Emerging Leaders Council and help promote its mission.”

Shankland, a business litigation attorney, also invests extensive hours representing pro bono clients.  He has represented adult defendants in federal and state criminal proceedings and children in juvenile and immigration proceedings. Shankland was part of a Shook team that, along with the ACLU of Kansas, negotiated a settlement with the State of Kansas requiring the state to treat every Medicaid recipient suffering from hepatitis C.  

According to the LSC, Americans spend more money on Halloween costumes for their pets each year than on federal funding for civil legal aid. Civil legal aid provides support for low-income Americans who, unlike in criminal cases, do not have a right to a lawyer for civil legal matters. The LSC distributes more than 90 percent of its funding to over 130 independent nonprofit legal aid programs with more than 800 offices in the United States.

Shook has a long history with the LSC. Shook Partner Matt Keenan is currently on the board of directors and Shook Chair Madeleine McDonough is on LSC’s Leaders Council. We congratulate Shankland on this new appointment as Shook continues to develop avenues of providing quality legal representation for all Americans.