Anthony Solana, Jr., Chair, Board of Directors

Anthony Solana, Jr. is the chair of the Equal Justice Society board of directors. Solana is an attorney with the Los Angeles office of Winston & Strawn LLP, and an EJS board member since 2003.

Solana is also president and chair of For People of Color, Inc., an organization he founded to empower people of color wanting to enter the legal profession.

He is the author of "A Guide to the Law School Application Process For People of Color" and "A Guide to the Bar Examination For People of Color" and a motivational speaker, frequently enlisted to be the keynote at numerous events, including law school admissions workshops, bar examination workshops, academic support programs and commencement ceremonies.

In the Los Angeles office of Winston & Strawn LLP, Solana practices in the areas of complex commercial litigation, internal investigations and general business disputes. He was formerly an attorney with Morrison & Foerster LLP. He focuses his pro bono practice to immigration and international human rights matters. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights recently awarded Solana the Father Cuchulain Moriarity Award, which recognizes an attorney who has made an extraordinary contribution to the organization's asylum program.

Solana also serves as a board member of the Greenlining Academy Alumni Association, which recently recognized him as its "Alumnus of the Year."

Solana received his Juris Doctor from the University of California Los Angeles School of Law where he served as the co-chair of the Seventh Annual National Latina/o Law Student Conference and was a founding member of the National Latina/o Law Student Association. He received numerous accolades, including the University of California Regents' Scholarship, American Bar Association Legal Opportunity Scholarship, Los Angeles County Bar Association Diversity Scholarship and Mexican American Bar Foundation Scholarship.

Solana was involved in creating the "Preserving Diversity in Higher Education" manual on admissions policies and procedures after the University of Michigan decisions. His progressive views on equal educational opportunities have been chronicled in the Wall Street Journal, California Law Review, and L.A. Weekly.

Solana received his B.A. in Political Science and History, with honors, from the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first person in his family to attain a college degree and Juris Doctor. Anthony, however, is proudest of the fact that he was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California.

Updated December 14, 2007