About six months after the departure of Laurence Tribe as the Senior Counselor of the Justice Department Access to Justice Initiative, his successor is in place.
Mark Childress on Thursday was sworn in as the leader of the program that focuses on access to legal services for the poor. He most recently was the acting General Counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services, overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which he helped usher through Congress as a Senate staffer.
Tribe, who stepped down in December because of health reasons, said the Barack Obama administration’s commitment to improving access to justice is “powerfully exemplified” by Childress.
“I’m sure he’ll roll up his sleeves and make a huge difference to ordinary people,” Tribe told Main Justice.
He was a partner at the law firm of Foley Hoag LLP from 2006 to 2008 and was the principal legal officer for the Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, an aboriginal business in Australia, from 2005 to 2006.
From 2000 to 2004, he was chief counsel and policy director to then-Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), after a two-year stint as a senior counsel to President Bill Clinton in the White House Counsel’s Office.
Childress also was the general counsel for the non-profit Environmental Working Group from 1995 to 1998, after serving six years as general counsel to the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee under then-Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) From 1988 to 1989, he was a staff attorney in the Agriculture Department General Counsel’s office.
