from Cleveland Jewish News: CJN goes one-on-one with: Jonathan Leiken

By Meghan Walsh

Jonathan Leiken has long been involved in bringing legal assistance to underprivileged people in the Cleveland area. He began his role as board president of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland in January with a vision of continuing the society’s decades-long tradition of providing counsel to those in need. Leiken is a resident of Shaker Heights and a member of The-Temple Tifereth Israel in Beachwood. Leiken succeeded Steve Fazio as president.

CJN: How long have you been active in Legal Aid Society?

Leiken: I’ve been on the board since 2018. I’ve been a volunteer for more than 20 years and I’ve been an officer for the last three or four years, and then I’m president/board chair for 2023.

CJN: Why are you passionate about Legal Aid Society?

Leiken: I love everything about this organization, its mission, its amazing people, the impact that it makes in the community. When you go to law school and you study to be a lawyer, you learn that this is a profession of teaching and helping; and when you swear into the bar, part of that obligation is not just having a career, but giving back to the community. It’s part of being a lawyer and to me there’s no more perfect way to give back to the community than through something like Legal Aid which provides free legal services to the most vulnerable in our community, essentially making sure that the law provides justice and equal opportunity to everyone including those who wouldn’t normally have access to it.

CJN: How did you become board president?

Leiken: I started volunteering for Legal Aid right after our family moved back to Cleveland from New York City, where we were living. I was a federal prosecutor in New York and my wife was a Legal Aid lawyer. She worked for Legal Aid in Manhattan where she was a criminal defense lawyer. So we knew Legal Aid from her experience in New York and when we moved home to Cleveland – my wife and I are both from Cleveland, we both grew up in Shaker Heights, both attended Shaker Heights High School – we knew that we both wanted to be involved with giving back and Legal Aid was an obvious place to do that. So I started volunteering right when we moved home in 2005 and participated in the free advice clinics that the organization provides in the community and I found them incredibly inspiring.

CJN: How does one become board president?

Leiken: The position is chosen by the board and by the governance committee and so the board selects the officers and I was selected through that process.

CJN: Is that something you expressed interest in for them to consider you?

Leiken: Yes. I think those of us on the board are all devoted to the mission and the organization, and are willing to serve in leadership roles as needed. I think all of us feel that way but I certainly made clear to my colleagues on the board and the team that I would be delighted to serve Legal Aid as a leader. I feel very privileged and honored to serve in that role.

CJN: What are your tasks as president?

Leiken: There’s some administrative roles where I lead our board meetings. The board meets four times a year to oversee the organization and conduct board business. As president, I also serve as a sounding board and guide to the management team, and help them think through issues confronting the organization and act as an intermediary between the board and the organization as we move through the year. The big task for us this year is this is our first year under our new strategic plan, which we put in place at the end of 2022. It is an incredibly bold strategic plan to take Legal Aid forward into the future and has a number of components.

CJN: What have you learned so far in your role as president?

Leiken: What I’ve learned is the gifts that I receive through this role far outweigh the gifts that I could possibly give back and that includes being inspired by not only our amazing staff who have dedicated their lives and their careers to this mission, but also our amazing clients who have the generosity of spirit to let us into their lives and their homes and their needs, to really understand how we can help them using the legal system. What I’ve learned is that there is an endless supply of inspiration by being involved with Legal Aid and it is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life, to be part of this and to help serve it.

CJN: What are your goals as president?

Leiken: To make sure that we, as leaders, help Legal Aid to not only continue to do its great work, but to be in a position to do this great work for years and decades to come, just as it has done for over a hundred years here in Cleveland; to pass this incredible asset on to future residents and community members so that our community can reap the benefits of Legal Aid.

Source: Cleveland Jewish News - CJN goes one-on-one with: Jonathan Leiken | Legal Affairs