Casey Johnson is the Director of Advocacy and Litigation for Kansas Legal Services (KLS) and is primarily responsible for the firm’s judicial advocacy, litigation strategies, and attorney training. Casey interned in the Topeka office from 2011 to 2013 and, after a brief stint as their receptionist, started in the Kansas City office as a staff attorney in 2013. Casey primarily handled housing cases, but also took on protection orders, family law cases, debt collection defense, probate cases, and denials of public benefits, among others. He became the Assistant Managing Attorney of the KC office in 2020 and started in his current role in 2021. Casey is on the Kansas Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on Best Practices for Eviction Proceedings. He is also on the Kansas Judicial Council’s Access to Justice/Civil Code Workgroup and the Legal Forms Subcommittee. He is the Chair of the KLS Complex Litigation Panel and assists KLS attorneys with all appeals. Casey has completed the NITA Teach Training Program and teaches the NITA Kansas Public Service Program. In 2020 he received the KLS Elizabeth Ferguson Award for outstanding achievement providing substantial direct benefit to a client or the client community. Casey graduated from The University of Kansas School of Law with certificates in Advocacy Skills and Business & Commercial Law. Prior to law school, Casey graduated from Kansas State University with B.A.s in Economics and Political Science. He lives in Shawnee, Kansas with his amazing wife, four rambunctious children, and their onery dog.

Michael Forton has served as Director of Advocacy for Legal Services Alabama (LSA) since 2016. Prior to taking this position, Mr. Forton served as Managing Attorney of the Huntsville Office for six years. Forton has represented clients in a wide range of cases including: housing, consumer, domestic and appellate issues in both state and federal courts. Prior to joining LSA, Forton served as Staff Attorney with Florida Rural Legal Services and clerked with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP). Forton received a B.A., with honors, from Michigan State University and a J.D. from The University of Alabama School of Law, where he was in the Bench and Bar Legal Honor Society. Forton previously served on the Board of Directors for the Public Interest Advisory Board at The University of Alabama. Forton won Legal Services Alabama Advocate of the Year in 2008 and the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year from the Alabama State Bar in 2024.

Megan Stuart (she/her) is the director of Advocacy at Indiana Legal Services. Previously, Megan was the director of Indiana Legal Services' LGBT Law Project, which is the states only legal program dedicated to direct representation and impact litigation on behalf of LGBTQ+ people. Before moving to Indiana, Megan was a senior staff attorney at the Urban Justice Center in New York City, where she represented homeless and street-involved youth, subsidized housing tenants, and people receiving public assistance.

Joseph Chilton is Litigation Director at Legal Aid of North Carolina, Inc., a statewide LSC-funded legal services provider. Joseph earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2013, and started with Legal Aid of North Carolina, Inc. as a fellow in 2015. He was named Litigation Director earlier this year.