Attorney Jill Beck has dedicated her career to ensuring that all Pennsylvanians have access to justice. Raised in Pittsburgh, Jill knew from a young age that she wanted to be an advocate for the underserved, and it was her passion for protecting those without a voice that drew her to the practice of law. Before graduating at the top of her class from Duquesne University School of Law, she served as a counselor at a residential facility for adjudicated delinquent girls, as an assistant forensic interviewer at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s Child Advocacy Center, and as an AmeriCorps Fellow working with adolescents on probation. Following law school, Jill chose to work for the nonprofit organization KidsVoice, where she represented abused and neglected children in court proceedings and beyond. Jill’s service at KidsVoice involved not only ensuring that the legal rights of her young clients were protected, but that their basic human needs were met — food, clothing, shelter, medical treatment, education, and a safe and loving family. Jill represented up to 225 children at a given time before magisterial district judges, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Pennsylvania Superior Court. KidsVoice honored her for her advocacy in 2008. In 2010, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Allegheny County gave her their Children’s Voice Award. Jill’s experience advocating for children led her to want to serve from the other side of the bench in Pennsylvania’s appellate courts. She spent the next 10 years in public service as a law clerk under the Honorable Christine Donohue on the Superior Court and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Jill drafted decisions for criminal, civil, family, juvenile, and orphans’ court cases that were grounded in the law and achieved substantial justice for individuals, families, and businesses across the Commonwealth. In the fall of 2019 Jill became a civil litigator at Blank Rome, a law firm she selected because of its commitment to providing free legal services to those who cannot afford them. While in private practice, she continued to help the underserved in Pennsylvania’s legal system, representing victims of domestic violence, assisting those experiencing housing insecurity, supporting low-income criminal defendants seeking to secure the same constitutional protections as those with means, providing guidance for low-income civil litigants who represent themselves in court, and volunteering to aid in voter protection efforts. Jill has been a member of Blank Rome’s Pro Bono Coordinating Committee and has been involved in the firm’s work to address systemic criminal justice reforms, civil rights, and voter protection issues. She was selected to co-chair a pro bono group aimed at protecting an individual’s right to protest. She also served two terms on the board of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Allegheny County Bar Association. Jill graduated college with honors with a degree in criminal justice from The George Washington University. She currently resides with her husband and two children in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where she is an active volunteer in her children’s classrooms and in her community. Her local civic efforts have included heading a drive to provide holiday gifts to children living in homeless shelters, organizing a program to furnish food-insecure children with backpacks filled with school supplies, and as a board member for the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition – a neighborhood-based organization that supports area residents, institutions, and visitors. Jill also managed sue’s run4kids, a charity event she founded to honor the life of her mother and to raise money for Pennsylvania teens in the foster care system. Jill knows firsthand that justice is served only when every person – regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or income – has fair and equal access to the courts. She is committed to ensuring that justice in Pennsylvania truly is for ALL.