The DC Bar has named Monika Kalra Varma as executive director of its Pro Bono Program. Ms. Varma will assume the position September 30 subsequent to the retirement of the program's current executive director, Maureen Thornton Syracuse.
The Pro Bono Program mobilizes the private bar to assist in making legal advice and representation fully available to low-income persons, as well as to small businesses and community-based nonprofits in the District of Columbia.
Ms. Varma has extensive managerial and programmatic experience. She currently serves as director of the Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Center for Human Rights, where she is responsible for developing all of the center's programs, overseeing its day-to-day operations, planning and administering its budget, managing its long-term organizational and programmatic strategies, and working with the center's board of directors. She also plays a key role in raising funds to support the center's operations, recruiting and managing pro bono participation by law firms, working with legal clinics, and cultivating partnerships and working coalitions with regional, national and international non-governmental organizations and with law schools and other entities.
"Ms. Varma is a demonstrated leader in the public interest community, and we are fortunate to have her as part of the Bar's leadership team," added DC Bar president Darrell G. Mottley. "She brings a wealth of success and experience in building coalitions and working collaboratively with colleagues as well as partner organizations, which will be a tremendous asset to our Pro Bono Program as it begins a new chapter."