This session explores how legal aid organizations use appellate advocacy to pursue justice. Panelists will discuss the appeals they handle, how they choose issues to pursue, and the role appeals play in shaping the law. Presenters will also address how they build appellate teams, create resources and cultures of advocacy, and navigate practical challenges such as limited capacity and resources, and strategies organizations use to overcome them.
- Think through how to identify appeal-worthy issues and make strategic decisions about when an appeal is the right investment of time and resources.
- Consider strategies for building appellate teams, using resources effectively, and evaluating the impact of appellate work to inform future cases.
- Exchange ideas and practical approaches with peers about what has worked, what has not, and how to strengthen appellate advocacy.
Megan Stuart, JD
Director of Advocacy
Indiana Legal Services
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.
$i++ ?>

Julia Simon-Mishel
Julia is the supervising attorney of the Unemployment Compensation Unit at Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA), where she represents low-wage workers in unemployment matters. She has represented more than 800 clients and has an active appellate practice pursuing impact unemployment cases in Pennsylvania courts. Julia has won two cases in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Harmon v. UCBR, a statutory construction case that expanded the right to benefits for returning citizens; and Lowman v. UCBR, a groundbreaking case holding that an UberX driver worked in “employment” and was entitled to unemployment benefits. She also works closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry on system improvements and has testified by invitation before the Pennsylvania legislature many times on issues affecting her clients. Julia’s research and advocacy focuses on how technology can improve access to benefits and how to prevent harmful uses of automated decision-making in benefit programs. She was the co-principal investigator and author of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded report “Centering Workers - How to Modernize Unemployment Insurance Technology,” and serves by appointment on Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Benefit Modernization Advisory Committee. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Julia has spearheaded community outreach and education about unemployment programs in Pennsylvania, working closely with social service organizations, community groups, legal services organizations, and local officials to help tens of thousands of workers access benefits. She is frequently cited in media outlets across the country, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, NPR, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News. Recently, Julia launched a statewide unemployment resource and self-help website, www.UCHelp.org. Before joining PLA, Julia clerked for the Honorable Norma L. Shapiro of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Julia has been named one of the American Bar Association’s “On the Rise: Top 40 Young Lawyers” and a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in Pennsylvania. In October 2021, she received the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) New Leaders in Advocacy Award. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Brandeis University.
$i++ ?>
Joseph Chilton, JD
Litigation Director
Legal Aid of North Carolina, Inc.
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.
$i++ ?>
Kathryn Liss, JD
Director of Complex and Appellate Litigation
Prairie State Legal Services, Inc.
Katie Liss is the Director of Complex and Appellate Litigation for Prairie State Legal Services, Inc., an organization serving 36 counties across Northern and Central Illinois. In this role, she oversees the agency's appellate and federal litigation while leading its strategic and affirmative advocacy efforts. Her practice focuses most significantly on housing and consumer law issues. A graduate of the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, her public interest background includes roles as staff attorney for Legal Aid Chicago, Ascend Justice, and Prairie State, as well as with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
$i++ ?>
Components visible upon registration.