Bob Schwartz to Retire from Juvenile Law Center in October 2015
It is with mixed emotions that I write to let you know that after 40 years at Juvenile Law Center, Bob Schwartz will be stepping down as Executive Director later this year.
Bob was a founder of Juvenile Law Center in 1975, along with Marsha Levick and Temple Law School classmates Judy Chomsky and Phil Margolis. Juvenile Law Center was the first public interest law firm for children in the United States, starting out as a small Philadelphia office that represented individual children in situations where legal advice was needed.
Bob has done an extraordinary job leading Juvenile Law Center from its humble beginnings to becoming the Nation’s preeminent legal advocacy organization for children in the justice and child welfare systems. Under his leadership, it has reinvented itself several times during its 40 years to meet the changing needs of clients.
Today, Juvenile Law Center is nationally recognized as the leading organization in the field, employing an array of legal strategies and policy advocacy to promote fairness, prevent harm, ensure access to appropriate services, and create opportunities for success for youth who come into the child welfare and justice systems. Our clients range from young teens to youth in their early twenties and are society’s most vulnerable kids. Juvenile Law Center advances policy reform across the country on behalf of youth who are most likely to be mislabeled, ignored or scarred for life by the systems and programs that are supposed to help them.
It has been a true testament to Bob’s dedication to these issues that he has tirelessly led our organization for 40 years. He has always managed Juvenile Law Center in a collegial and consensus-driven way, and he will be leaving us in great hands. Marsha Levick will continue to lead a stellar legal team. We have a superb Board and staff. We have a sound funding base supporting a vigorous strategic plan. Bob has discussed his plans with the Board, and we are well positioned to consider a number of strong leaders in the field to be our future Executive Director. We have formed a Board-staff committee, led by former Dean of Temple University Law School and long standing board member Bob Reinstein, to conduct a national search for Bob’s successor.
Juvenile Law Center will be celebrating the first 40 years of our extraordinary accomplishments at a gala dinner on Tuesday evening October 13, 2015, at the Hyatt at The Bellevue in Philadelphia. Please save the date! I hope you will be able to join us. I know that it will mean a lot to Bob to be with friends, colleagues and supporters as we come together to celebrate both his life’s work and Juvenile Law Center’s first 40 years.
I have had the privilege of knowing Bob for over 40 years. I’ve witnessed firsthand his vision, passion and dedication for building Juvenile Law Center into the preeminent organization that it is today. But Bob also accomplished something else that is unique. He built a sustainable organization. While we will all miss Bob’s day-to-day leadership, the Board and staff are confident that the next 40 years will be every bit as groundbreaking for Juvenile Law Center and the children on whose behalf we work.
Barry L. Zubrow, Board President