Philadelphia’s LGBT attorney group recently came under the direction of a new leader who is eager to bring new successes and growth to an organization with a 25-year history of uniting out legal professionals around the area.
The board of Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia earlier this month elected Angela Giampolo as president.
Giampolo takes over for Brian Sims, who is launching his campaign for a Pennsylvania House seat and who held the presidency for the past three years.
“Angela’s dynamic personality, integrity and dedication to advocacy for LGBT human rights will help bring the organization [forward],” Sims said. “Her voice in the community is exactly what GALLOP needs in its quest to define its identity.”
Giampolo’s firm, Giampolo Law Group, specializes in LGBT law, handling cases that deal with everything from estate-planning to adoptions to employment discrimination, and Giampolo writes about LGBT-specific legal issues as a columnist for such publications as PGN and Philadelphia Business Journal.
Giampolo joined GALLOP while attending law school at Temple University.
“It was the only organization of its kind in the area that provided a space for LGBT law students and lawyers to come together and exchange ideas, socialize and network,” Giampolo said.
Sims contacted Giampolo to inform her he was stepping down and, after discussing the organization’s development over the past few years and the agency’s track for the future, Giampolo said she welcomed the opportunity to take on the leadership role.
The leadership shift has sparked a conversation among the board members about the need to “concretize” the overall vision and mission of the organization, Giampolo said.
“We’ve discussed both the short-term and long-term goals as a board and all feel that in the short-term, we have to focus on the long-term,” she said.
A main component of the plan includes enhanced outreach to previous members and board members of GALLOP, Giampolo said, to fuel organization growth. The organization currently has about 100 members.
“We have an amazing pedigree of powerful and revered attorneys that have served GALLOP over the years, and it will be exciting to bring them together and hear their ideas for the future of the organization.”
Among its current efforts, GALLOP offers outreach to law students, including opportunities for continuing legal education credits and social and networking outlets — initiatives that Giampolo said the organization structures so as not to overlap with the work of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Diversity Committee or Mazzoni Center’s legal clinic.
GALLOP plans to collaborate with both agencies, as well as Lambda Legal and other LGBT groups, to continue to broaden the opportunities available to the LGBT legal community.
Earlier this month, GALLOP hosted a social event for approximately 40 local guests to discuss the recent Lavender Law conference in Los Angeles, and the agency is also launching a monthly happy hour for LGBT law students and attorneys at 5:30 p.m. the second Thursday of the month at Stir.
Giampolo said the combination of experiences and skill sets among the board members will also be beneficial to shaping the future course of the group.
“I’ve always been dedicated to servicing the LGBT community’s legal needs and this is another facet in which I can do so,” she said. “I will also bring a ton of energy and new ideas to the organization and, along with our dedicated and passionate board, we’ll be able to build on the momentum led by Brian Sims to take the organization to the next level.”
Sims will remain involved in GALLOP as an ex-officio board member.
Larry Felzer will remain as treasurer of the board, and family-law attorney Megan Smith was brought on as the board’s secretary.
Board members Cletus Lyman and Robert Tuerk are returning for another term, and the board has also brought on Ballard Spahr attorney Geoffrey D. Bruen, Rutgers University Law School faculty member Jason Cohen and Blank Rome attorney Alfred Zaher.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].