Something important began in Philadelphia last week.

Equal Justice America officially launched our Philadelphia Legal Aid Capacity Initiative at a reception co-sponsored by the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check and held at Drexel Kline’s Institute for Trial Advocacy.

The Initiative is built around a simple idea: Philadelphia has extraordinary legal aid organizations doing critical work, but the need for legal assistance far exceeds available resources. EJA wants to help by expanding the number of our Summer Fellows serving Philadelphia’s legal aid community.

That means more capacity to serve people who need legal help now, while giving more law students the experiences that can lead to careers in public interest law.

No one made that case more powerfully than our Fellows themselves. Their stories about their summer work, their clients, and their commitment to public service were the heart of the evening. Their eloquence and passion showed exactly why EJA wants to create opportunities for many more law students to serve Philadelphia’s legal aid organizations.

We were also honored to hear from Brent Landau, Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Center and an EJA alumnus. Brent brought a particularly valuable perspective, both as the leader of a Philadelphia public interest organization that understands firsthand the need for additional legal aid capacity and as someone who knows from personal experience what an EJA Fellowship can mean early in a lawyer’s career.

The turnout was extraordinary. Attorneys from Kessler Topaz and other firms, leaders and staff from Philadelphia legal aid organizations, law school public interest professionals, current EJA Fellows, and other law students filled the room. Attendance matched our New York reception, the largest of the six receptions EJA held around the country this summer.

That is exactly the kind of community we hope to build around the Philadelphia Legal Aid Capacity Initiative.

We are especially grateful to our co-sponsors and to the people who helped make the evening possible: Katie Ball, Associate Dean for Career Strategies at the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, and Sharan Nirmul, a partner at Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check and a member of EJA’s Board of Advisors.

Drexel Kline welcomed us into its remarkable Institute for Trial Advocacy, while Kessler Topaz generously provided the reception and turned out in force. It meant a great deal to see so many attorneys from the firm make the trip into the city to meet our Fellows, hear about their work, and learn more about what EJA hopes to build in Philadelphia.

Perhaps the best indication of the enthusiasm surrounding the Initiative came before the evening was even over: Katie and Sharan had already invited us back next year.

Wednesday night felt like the beginning of something important for EJA in Philadelphia. We look forward to building on it.