Lambda Legal announced today that Chief Legal Officer Jennifer C. Pizer will be assuming a new role in the organization focused on combatting the multi-pronged attack the second Trump administration has launched against the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV.
“It has been my distinct honor to serve as Lambda Legal’s Chief Legal Officer for the past three years, especially to oversee the growth in the capacity of the Legal Department as we ramp up to meet the multiple challenges our community now faces,” Pizer said. “Now, in this time of intensifying national catastrophe, I feel an urgent call to return to what remains my personal and professional passion—strategic advocacy to defend our beloved LGBTQ+ community.”
Pizer is assuming the new role of Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Special Counsel to the CEO. It is an updated version of a position Pizer previously created that includes litigation, policy advocacy, public education, and strategic thinking, and now includes a special focus on confronting Trump and Trumpism.
“I am eager to devote myself fully to further boosting our effectiveness against the Trump administration, those behind Project 2025, and the others who are attempting to return our country to a pre-civil rights era … if not a pre-Civil War era,” Pizer added.
“I am enormously grateful for the leadership and support Jenny has provided as Chief Legal Officer for the past three years,” Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said. “As we have been expanding our capacity to meet the new threats and challenges, Jenny’s guidance has been essential. And I look forward to her continued counsel in her new position, because we are well aware of the extreme threats we face, and the certainty more is to come.”
Lambda Legal also announced today that Camilla B. Taylor will assume the role of Interim Chief Legal Officer while a search for a new CLO is conducted, and that Karen Loewy will move into the role of Interim Deputy Legal Director for Litigation.