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Neighborhood Legal Services Program of the District of Columbia is excited to celebrate with our friends and supporters at our annual Jazz for Justice event. This signature evening of live jazz, specialty cocktails, passed hors d'oeuvres, and fellowship brings together DC's legal, business, and civic communities in support of equal access to justice.
Each year, the event honors an outstanding leader in law and public service with the Leader of Justice Award. The award recognizes an individual who has served the civil and social justice communities as a leader, volunteer, and innovator, and who has a track record of providing support and resources to those in the community facing discrimination and injustice.
Past honorees include Colette Honorable, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Exelon; Jeffrey Harleston, General Counsel and Executive Vice President at Universal Music Group; and Tonya Robinson, Vice Chair, General Counsel and Board Secretary at KPMG.
Proceeds from Jazz for Justice support the free legal services NLSP provides to low-income DC residents across housing stability, family law, and economic security, the legal crises that touch people's lives most directly.
WHY IT MATTERS
Founded in 1964, NLSP is one of DC's oldest civil legal services providers. Each year, we help more than 8,000 DC residents navigate the legal system, preventing wrongful evictions, protecting survivors of domestic violence, and securing access to benefits that keep families stable.
Behind every case is a person: a mother keeping her children in their home, a worker recovering wages they were owed, a survivor finding safety. That work has never mattered more. As of January 2026, new District law gives tenants as few as ten days' notice before an eviction can be filed, down from thirty. For a family without a lawyer, those days can mean the difference between staying and losing everything. NLSP is often the difference between facing the system alone and having someone in their corner.
When you attend, give, or sponsor Jazz for Justice, you help ensure that justice in the District is not reserved for those who can pay for it, but available to everyone who needs it.
THE 2026 LEADER OF JUSTICE AWARDEE
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Gina F. Adams
Executive Vice President
General Counsel and Secretary
FedEx Corporation
As executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Gina Adams is responsible for directing the international and domestic legal, security, and government affairs for FedEx Corporation and its subsidiaries, which includes ensuring that global business activities are conducted in compliance with international, federal, state, and local government regulations. She is also a member of the executive committee, a group responsible for planning and executing the company’s strategic initiatives.
Before assuming her current role in 2024, Adams served as corporate vice president, government and regulatory affairs where she was instrumental in shaping and promoting the policy interests of FedEx while working closely with government officials, policymakers, and industry associations on issues related to domestic and international commerce, infrastructure, and transportation. She joined FedEx in 1992 as a managing attorney for international regulatory affairs and is a four-time recipient of the FedEx Five Star Award, the company’s highest employee achievement award.
Adams received her Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs from American University, a JD from Howard University School of Law, and an LL.M in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University Law Center. She also holds Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Trinity Washington University and the University of the District of Columbia. She began her professional career in the Attorney Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Adams is an active member of the community and serves on numerous nonprofit and business-sector boards, including as Vice Chair of the Board of the Economic Club of Washington, and as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Atlantic Council and the National Air and Space Museum boards. She is also former Chair of the American University Board of Governors.
In 2018, Adams was inducted into the DC Hall of Fame and honored by the American Association of Airport Executives Foundation with a permanently endowed scholarship awarded yearly to female students enrolled in accredited aviation programs. She was recognized in 2022 by the Economic Club of Washington, DC with the inaugural Arne M. Sorenson Excellence in Leadership Award for her efforts in strengthening ties between the local business, civic, diplomatic, and philanthropic communities.
TICKETS & EVENT DETAILS
Thursday, November 12, 2026
901 4th Street NW, Washington, DC
VIP Reception: 5:45 p.m.
Doors Open: 6:30 p.m.
Program: 7:45 p.m.
Dessert Station: 8:30 p.m.
Every ticket includes an evening of live jazz, passed hors d'oeuvres, specialty cocktails, wine and beer, and the Leader of Justice Award presentation.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
A Jazz for Justice sponsorship places your organization at the center of an evening that matters to the District, in front of an audience of partners, general counsels, judges, and changemakers. More than visibility, your sponsorship is fuel for the work: it pays for the attorney who stands beside a tenant in court, the advocate who helps a survivor find safety, and the counsel who keeps a family's benefits intact.
Levels range from $1,200 to $60,000, with benefits including event tickets, pre-event reception access, logo placement, digital program advertising, and Host Committee recognition.
Every sponsorship builds a District where the courthouse door is open to everyone, not only those who can afford to walk through it.
2026 HOST COMMITTEE
*as of August 16, 2026
We are grateful to our 2026 Host Committee, a remarkable group of leaders who lend their names, their networks, and their belief in equal justice to make this evening possible.
Their commitment to NLSP and to Washington, DC reflects the very spirit Jazz for Justice celebrates.
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Professor
Georgetown University
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 Ellen M. Jakovic Retired Partner Kirkland & Ellis |
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 Amy Ralph Mudge Partner BakerHostetler |
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Prince Georges County Chief of Staff |
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.jpg) Radhika Singh Vice President Advocacy & Strategic Initiatives NLADA |
.jpg) Annamaria StewardExecutive Director The National Black Lawyers |
 Roderick E. ThompsonPrincipal Roderick Thompson Law Group PLLC |
 Jo-Ann Wallace President NLADA Insurance Program |
 April Williams Partner WilmerHale |
 Melissa F. Zappala Partner Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP |
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For more information, please email Jazz4Justice@nlsp.org. Read about the 2025 Jazz for Justice event here.
