We are pleased to announce the addition of two new vice presidents to Public Counsel’s leadership team. Kathryn Eidmann has been promoted to the position of Vice President, Chief of Litigation and Legal Programs at Public Counsel, and Steven Godoy has been selected as Public Counsel’s permanent Vice President, Chief Financial Officer after having served as interim CFO for the past six months. Their expertise and dedication will further strengthen our organization’s mission of advancing justice, hope, and opportunity for all.

As Vice President, Chief of Litigation and Legal Programs, Kathryn Eidmann will oversee Public Counsel’s full range of comprehensive legal advocacy to advance civil rights and racial and economic justice. She will build upon her successful work as Public Counsel’s Director of Litigation, where she promoted a coordinated approach to transforming unjust systems through litigation. She will also oversee Public Counsel’s delivery of legal services across an array of legal practice areas.

Kathryn first joined Public Counsel in 2013 and has litigated major cases in the areas of education equity, children’s rights, gender discrimination, criminalization of poverty, immigrants’ rights, housing and homelessness, and the rights of low-wage workers. In 2019, she received a California Lawyer of the Year award for her appellate advocacy in People v. Duenas, a landmark California Court of Appeal opinion establishing that courts may not impose mandatory court fees on indigent criminal defendants.

For the past six months, Steven Godoy has admirably served as Public Counsel’s interim Chief Financial Officer, and we are thrilled that he will continue providing financial leadership for our organization as the permanent Vice President, Chief Financial Officer. Steven is an accomplished finance professional with over a decade of experience in non-profit accounting and a deep commitment to ethical values and integrity. As a Los Angeles area native, he brings an understanding of the local community to his role, and he has an appreciation for the critical role that nonprofits play in creating positive change in our society.

Prior to joining Public Counsel, Steven worked at Grobstein Teeple, LLP, where he specialized in providing CFO and Controller services, internal control assessments, and assurance services to private companies in various sectors, including nonprofit, education, retail, hospitality, and medical research. Steven also took on leadership roles within the firm, including leading the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and serving on its Advisory Committee. Additionally, he worked at the Veterans Medical Research Foundation, where he provided financial management for a nonprofit with over 200 employees and an annual budget of $25 million.

Please join us in congratulating Kathryn Eidmann and Steven Godoy on their well-deserved promotion and appointment. We are excited to have them in these crucial roles as we pursue Public Counsel‘s mission to advance civil rights and racial and economic justice, and amplify the power of our clients through comprehensive legal advocacy.