Of Counsel
Amy Hirsch is Of Counsel at Community Legal Services. Prior to her retirement, she served as the Managing Attorney for the CLS Health and Independence Unit. In her positions at CLS, Ms. Hirsch has worked on state and federal civil litigation and policy advocacy with particular concentrations on welfare, health, and food stamps; the interaction of welfare and family law; and the interaction of welfare and criminal law.
Ms. Hirsch had a Soros Justice Fellowship to do research and writing on the intersection of welfare law and the criminal justice system, and a Mid Career Policy fellowship to study health policy at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica California. She previously taught courses on welfare law as an adjunct at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and School of Social Work, and at Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Interim House, and the Board of Women against Abuse.
Ms. Hirsch received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1973, and received an MA in Political Economy from the New School for Social Research in 1976.
Publications
“The School to Prison Pipeline for Girls: The Role of Physical and Sexual Abuse,” (with S. Simkins, E. McNamara Horvat & M. Moss), Children’s Legal Rights Journal (2005).
“Battered Women, Battered Again: The Impact of Women’s Criminal Records,” in C. Mele & T. Miller, editors, Civil Penalties, Social Consequences, Routledge Press (2005).
“Welfare Reform and Child Support Policy in the United States,” (with D. Kurz), 10 Social Politics 397 (Fall 2003).
Every Door Closed: Barriers Facing Parents With Criminal Records (with S. Dietrich, R. Landau, and P. Schneider, I. Ackelsberg, J. Bernstein-Baker, & J. Hohenstein) Center for Law & Social Policy & Community Legal Services, Inc., Washington D.C. (2002).