Last month, Nadira Clarke, a Partner at Baker Botts LLP, was voted as the next President of Legal Aid DC’s Board of Trustees, succeeding Joan McKown of Jones Day, whose term ended last month. She will serve a two-year term from 2023 to 2025.

“It is a great honor – and responsibility – to serve in this role as Legal Aid continues to work to meet the growing needs of our client community in the District,” Nadira said. “I am grateful for the confidence that my fellow Board Members have placed in me, and look forward to working with them to further the organization’s critically-important mission.”

Nadira joined the Board of Trustees in 2018 and has served on the Executive Committee since 2021. She also served as Chair of the Executive Director Search Committee in 2022, which led to the hiring of Vikram Swaruup in that role.

“I am so appreciative of Nadira for taking on this role,” Vikram said. “Her dedication over so many years and now in this leadership role to the residents Legal Aid serves is obvious. We are fortunate to be able to count on her leadership over the next two years.”

Legal Aid’s 51-member Board of Trustees is the organization’s governing body, charged with supporting Legal Aid’s mission in a number of ways, including by promoting participation in pro bono and fundraising initiatives. Legal Aid Trustees, their firms, and their colleagues contribute more than $20 million annually in financial contributions and donated services.

Nadira’s board leadership experience also includes serving as a Member of the Executive Committee of the Center for Women in Law, as well as on the Board of the Environmental Law Institute. She has extensive pro bono experience in sex-based discrimination litigation, immigration, and child-custody matters, and was profiled for her pro bono work by the Washington Council of Lawyers in 2021.

Before joining Baker Botts, Nadira was a Partner at Katten in DC, and previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, and a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.