Board of Directors Spotlight: Deb Goldberg

We reflect on 2024 with a philanthropist and PSLS Board Member who discovered PSLS in 1984 as a young mother who recently passed the bar in her second trimester while remaining unemployable in Lake County, Illinois.

Deb began by sharing a story she has told countless times to PSLS staff, volunteers, donors, and her circle of friends. Asking that she describe the path she began blazing to include PSLS in her growth as mother, attorney, community and philanthropic organizer and often leader upon request, Deb promptly explained the connection between family values and community philanthropy as if she was laying out a case in court.

“And if you listen,” she smiled over her screen from Las Vegas, “I can tell you exactly what it is… It’s genetics.”

Deb: My commitment has been actively with Prairie State for 37 years and began a little before that in 1984. I had just been admitted to the bar and I was seriously Wild Kingdom pregnant. Remarkably, I couldn't get a job and joined the Lake County Bar Association. I saw an article on The Docket about Prairie State Legal Services. The article inspired me to volunteer. I knew I wanted to do some good with my degree while I wasn't working. I met Jen Morrison, a PSLS coordinator, mind you this is a million years ago, and volunteered until I was promptly put on bed rest.

PSLS: I wonder what the article was in 1984, who wrote it, etc.? We may need to investigate the archives.

Deb: My connection was made in ‘84 and I began to volunteer in ‘87 after opening my own office in Lake County. It’s genetic with me. My grandparents were labor organizers right out of central casting. My parents marched for Dr. Martin Luther King in Cicero. I grew up in high school during the Vietnam War and spent many days protesting. I was in the streets of Chicago in 1969 although nowhere near the convention. It’s genetic. I had to do something right and good.

Her eyes glimmered through her glasses. Passion and purpose lit her face. We could have been in a courtroom.

Deb: PSLS was such a natural fit. For one thing, the cases are vetted. I know they are legitimate. I happen to speak Spanish fluently. Whoa was there a need within our community. When I opened my office there were just three of us in Lake County that could serve the Latinx community. Then things began to fall into place. I then served on what was called the Legal Aid Committee. This was a bar association organization, but it later merged with PSLS. We all worked well together. Much later, PSLS took over this volunteer lawyers program. Initially it was a bar association thing, but we ceded that committee to PSLS because it seemed so much more logical and efficient. That’s the deal. I began as a pro bono volunteer taking cases with PSLS and serving on the Legal Aid Committee, then the Campaign for Legal Services [PSLS’ former geographically-based fundraising committees], the Together for Justice Team [PSLS’ new program-wide fundraising committee], and now on the Board of Directors. Just forever and ever, and I plan to do that forever and ever.

PSLS: I can see the generational line of purpose and determination passed on through your family. As you grow in your personal and professional life, so you grow in your philanthropic and community life.

Deb: I am a perfectly ordinary person, but I have lived the most extraordinary life and I absolutely have to help other people do the same thing. We as attorneys have a professional responsibility to offer our services to those who need us. So lucky me, I get to do both. Well, three things actually: nature, nurture and education!

It’s good and well to write a check and I do it monthly and not just to PSLS. I need to do something. I need to get my hand in there and connect and do something. I get more out of that experience. I’m not knocking the writing of checks. Lots of people can’t volunteer. Public defenders, State’s Attorneys and certain businesses don’t allow volunteerism. I’m not knocking the check, because we have to keep the lights on. For me, it wasn’t enough.

PSLS: We are aware of the dire need that many Illinois families are experiencing on a daily basis. The tidal wave of need that was felt across social service nonprofits during COVID-19 was focused on immediate pandemic needs. We continue to see increased need for housing stability. Almost half of our cases in 2023 centered around housing. As you know we have doubled in size over the last decade to address growing civil legal needs, what growth milestones do you want to brag about?

Deb: The growth is sad. The fact that we need to serve more people is very disturbing. The fact that our major funding source could also disappear is frightening. Whatever I can contribute in terms of ideas, fundraising and awareness is certainly very gratifying to me. When I was President of the Lake County Bar Association and the President of the Association of Women Attorneys of Lake County, PSLS was just openly and obviously our philanthropy of choice and I would book no dissent. I’m trying to keep my profile a little lower so people don’t get sick of hearing from me!

PSLS: Last question, Deb. We hear from PSLS volunteers and staff about your fiery chats and great advice while carpooling to meetings and collaborating on cases over the years. When you consider philanthropic impact, do you consider the value of these chats? Impact is difficult to quantify but undeniable when you experience it.

Deb: Many of my best friends have worked for PSLS. My partner for 20 years was the Director of the Waukegan office and then left to go into private practice. PSLS brought us together. I had a case with him. We got to know each other and then one day at a PSLS event we learned his partners were retiring and I was looking for a partner. We kinda looked at each other and we became partners for 20 years. My best friend in the whole world, Gretchen Fisher, worked for PSLS. The people I admire most, my mentors Gary Schlesinger and Yolanda Torrez, I met through PSLS. I learned so much from them. I hate to sound really OG here, but we used to teach volunteers how to do things. Kevin Kane and I taught people how to do simple divorces and those participants agreed to take a PSLS case once the training was over. Anytime a volunteer takes a case now, the entirety of PSLS is there to support them when help is required. I have learned how the organization works from PSLS staff and a little gossip too when we have time! My friendships are deeper and my professional learning is deeper because of these chats.

If Deb’s story has inspired you to get more involved with PSLS, you can contact probono@pslegal.org to learn more about handling a pro bono case, or you can email Katey Frederking at kfrederking@pslegal.org to learn more about helping PSLS fundraise through its Together for Justice Team.