Board of Directors Spotlight
Meet Julie Stromberg, LACC Foundation Board Member
Julie Stromberg is an experienced civil litigator focusing on educational, civil, and disability rights. In her early career, Ms. Stromberg was a litigation attorney focused on environmental and business litigation. Ms. Stromberg expanded her area of practice to include education law with an emphasis on special education law after her experience as a parent of a child with learning differences.
Prior to launching her own practice, Ms. Stromberg was Senior Staff Attorney with the Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC), 501C-3 non-profit, public interest advocacy organization that champions the civil rights of people with disabilities through education, advocacy, and litigation. As a Senior Attorney with the DRLC, Ms. Stromberg represented persons with disabilities who experienced discrimination in violation of their civil rights, and worked to remove barriers to full participation by persons with disabilities in schools. A bulk of her practice included representing children in the foster youth system with various disabilities.
Ms. Stromberg continued her representation of foster youth as a Senior Attorney with the Law Offices of Hirji & Chau LLP, a boutique law firm focusing on educational and civil rights. Her experience representing a wide array of children with disabilities from various backgrounds enables her to provide a comprehensive and empathetic approach with a unique understanding of the nuances of each individual matter brought before her.
Ms. Stromberg’s experience as the mother of a young child with learning differences ignited a profound passion for special education advocacy and the desire to advocate on behalf of children and their families. She represents youth with a wide range of disabilities and their families at IEP meetings, mediation, administrative due process hearings, and in state and federal courts.
Ms. Stromberg has deep experience with every aspect of special-education practice and has cultivated the legal expertise necessary to help her clients face a full spectrum of issues. She represents her clients using a multi-disciplinary approach aiming to address the multi-faceted and complex issues each client and their family may face; including, but not limited to, special education, dependency, access to medical and mental health services, conservatorships, and more. Her goal with each client is to make a meaningful, lasting impact on her client.
Tell us what inspired you to join the Board and give back?
As the first college graduate in my family, I know the challenges students face and the burdens they take on in obtaining an education and a degree. I also know how education can make real, transformative change in an individual that will steer the course of their life.
I first learned about the LACC Foundation when I attended a LACC Foundation Gala upon invitation of a friend who was serving on the LACC Foundation Board. I was so incredibly moved by the stories of LACC’s students and the impactful work of the Foundation. I left the GALA consumed with inspiration by the Foundation’s work and the college. A few years later, I decided that I wanted to focus on education and helping other individual’s obtain an education to better their lives. I especially wanted to focus on supporting first-gen students, such as myself. I immediately thought about the LACC Foundation as an ideal organization that would enable me to achieve my goals and give back. I reached out to my friend who was serving on the LACC Foundation Board and, fortunately, there was an opening on the Foundation Board.
Eight years later I am still as excited about our work and am continuing to find ways to further give back to LACC.
In addition to your board service, you support community in many impactful ways. What are you involved in lately?
I really value giving back to my community and creating community. I have served as an elected representative of my local neighborhood council, the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council (“GWNC”), since 2014. I currently serve as one of two representatives for my community, Brookside, on the GWNC Board. I also serve as Chair of the GWNC Neighborhood Purpose Grant (“NPG”) Committee, which provides grants to local non-profit organizations and schools within the GWNC area and/or serving GWNC Stakeholders. I also serve as a member of the GWNC Transportation Committee, a committee that I formerly chaired for a few years.
I serve on the Foundation Board for the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (“WLALA”), an organization that I have served on the board of since 2009. On the Foundation Board, I serve as co-Chair of the Fran Kandel Public Interest Fellowship Committee, which provides grants to law students for social justice-oriented projects in the field of public interest law.
In my community, I also serve on the Family & Entertainment Committee for the Los Angeles Tennis Club where we design programs to encourage family involvement in the Club. Last, I serve as a Trustee of the Craft Contemporary, a local museum in the Miracle Mile District focusing on revealing the potential of craft to educate, captivate, provoke, and empower. As a Trustee of the Craft Contemporary, I have the pleasure to serve on the Board of Trustees and the Craft Contemporary Education Committee. In addition to my community work, I serve as Room Parent for my son’s first grade class and I am Chair of the Green Committee for the Pilgrim School Parent Association.
Last, much of my time is devoted to my wonderful husband, Winston Stromberg; our three young children, Julien (10), Leo (7), and Astrid (3); our three dogs (Harley, Lilly, and Monty); and our bird, Billy.
Join the movement and support students’ success today!
