Deborah Gross.

The Philadelphia legal community has seen few years as challenging as 2017, with its top law enforcement officer going to prison for bribery and the city administration often publicly at odds with federal law enforcement officials. The Philadelphia Bar Association's immediate past chancellor Deborah Gross was there to lead the organization through it all, acting not only as the voice, but also spearheading the group's efforts to provide legal aid services at a time when those resources appear to be increasingly in need.

During her tenure, Gross, a plaintiffs-side securities, fraud, antitrust and consumer class action attorney at Kaufman, Coren & Ress, was an outspoken chancellor, issuing statements on everything from a condemnation of U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions to a call for former Philadelphia District Attorney R. Seth Williams to step down after he was indicted on bribery charges. Gross stepped down in December, and Fineman Krekstein & Harris attorney Mary Platt took over as chancellor. (The association is set to host a reception for Platt at the Hyatt at the Bellevue in Philadelphia on Thursday evening.)

The Legal spoke with Gross about her tenure. The following was edited for clarity and flow.

Q: What were the biggest challenges during your tenure?

A: The biggest challenges were the membership, and being relevant to our members. I wanted to make sure we were making statements that were not partisan, but were even-handed and addressed the various issues that arose.

We had during my year, issues ranging from the importance of judicial independence and the rule of law. We actually called on Seth Williams to step down, and spoke about the hate crimes and the shootings.

Q: What were the difficulties in putting out these statements, and how did you manage to get consensus?

A: It was an interesting learning experience. A lot of people wanted statements quickly. But we wanted to make sure that we had information, that it affected the rule of law and the courts, and that the position was supported by the Constitution as opposed to a partisan viewpoint.

Q: What would you say were your biggest accomplishments?

A: They were multifaceted, I will say. I gave more recognition to the bar association through the various statements and the various forums, and the Take Action Philly concept that we worked on and implemented throughout the year.

The concept of Take Action Philly was to bring together a number of different groups and to collaborate on issues of major importance. We began with immigration. We had that program in February as a result of the immigration Take Action Philly. We had clinics where attorneys volunteered. That's going to continue. During my time we had a clinic every month, either a screening or a naturalization project. That's going to continue, although maybe not at the same pace.

We also had a Take Action Philly convening for Medicaid and next week we're having a Take Action Philly convening called “Black, White and Blue: Race and Justice in the 21st Century.”

The whole concept of Take Action Philly will continue because it's a collaboration of a lot of the local nonprofits with the bar association addressing issues of importance.

The other thing that was quite unique and a learning experience was, I went to Washington, D.C., to lobby for legal services funding. We also went to Harrisburg to support amendments to the hate crimes legislation. We here at our association got up and running on our legislative action site a program for people to support amendments to the hate crime bill.

It was a really good experience, and I enjoyed that. We also worked very closely with the city this year, and with Mayor [Jim] Kenney.

Q: What is next for you?

A: I'm going back to working full time for the firm [Kaufman Coren], and I'm going to continue to be involved in the pro bono legal community. The current chancellor has appointed me to the pro bono chair for the cabinet, and I will go back on the board of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation where I will champion the Equal Justice Center, and I'll be there to help Mary whenever she asks.

Q: Tell me about the Equal Justice Center, and how that is progressing.

A: The Equal Justice Center is going to be built on a site between Eighth and Ninth on Vine Street, and we will be housing about 20 legal nonprofits in one building to increase the efficiency of scale and collaboration. We're now in the process of looking at this site, meeting with the legal nonprofits, working on the physical layout of the building, and will be, shortly, embarking on fundraising. Our goal is to have the paperwork completed by October, and to have a shovel in the ground by October.