Mr. Read has been the
General Counsel of Justice at Work (Friends of Farmworkers, Inc.) for more
than 39 years and has been practicing labor and employment law in New York,
New Jersey and Pennsylvania since receiving a J.D. from NYU Law School more
than 45 years ago in 1976. Since 1979, Mr. Read’s practice has almost
entirely focused on the representation of limited English proficient (LEP)
clients in cases before federal and state courts, and before federal and
state administrative agencies, including unemployment compensation claims and
extensive practice before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. His
litigation on behalf of LEP clients has been principally on behalf of Spanish
and Haitian Creole speaking clients and has included mass and class action
cases tried before juries. Beginning in 2018, Mr. Read undertook issues of
behalf of a Cameroonian Pidgin English speaking asylum detained asylum
applicant as to rights of Limited English Proficient persons in immigration
proceedings. In 2000, Mr. Read testified before the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Judicial System and
thereafter became a member of the Limited English Proficient Litigants
Workgroup which produced Chapter One “Litigants with Limited English
Proficiency” in the March 2003 Final Report of the Committee. Since 2003, Mr.
Read has helped lead advocacy efforts through the Pennsylvania and
Philadelphia Bar Associations as well as through the Pennsylvania Immigration
and Citizenship Coalition (PICC) for implementation of the Committee’s 2003
recommendations for LEP litigants. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar
Association (PBA) House of Delegates, a former co-chair of the PBA Civil and
Equal Rights Committee, and an active member of several PBA committees. Mr.
Read has been a trainer and course planner for numerous continuing legal
education events including those sponsored by the National Legal Aid and
Defender Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. 

Stephen serves as Court Access Analyst and Special Assistant to the Court Administrator of Pennsylvania for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC), providing assistance to the Coordinator of Court Access on ADA and LEP issues as well as aiding the Court Administrator in the development of court-related policies and procedures. Stephen has been with the Pennsylvania Courts since 2017. Prior to serving the Pennsylvania Courts, he was a Research Analyst with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He received his B.A. from York College of Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing his Master’s in Business Administration at Lebanon Valley College.

Ms. Kroon is Lead Advocacy Attorney at Justice at Work Pennsylvania. Her direct casework is focused on wage theft, labor trafficking and other employment-related issues for low-wage and migrant workers. She also works alongside advocates on the state and national level on issues including temporary visa programs, language access, health and safety, and immigration services fraud. Prior to joining JAW, she practiced civil legal aid as a medical-legal attorney for families at Boston Children’s Hospital and an immigration attorney in central Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Ms. Bates is a staff attorney at the Community Justice Project, where she is the Systematic Litigator for the Northeastern Region of Pennsylvania. She began her tenure at CJP as a Martin Luther King Jr. Fellow. She focuses on housing, employment work and language access rights, specifically in schools, housing, and law enforcement. She earned her B.A. from Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from Widener University Delaware Law School.

Ms. Tran is a Staff Attorney in the SSI Unit and leads the Language Access Project at Community Legal Services (CLS). She represents low-income individuals with disabilities to defend their right to critical Supplemental Security Income benefits. She also focuses on language rights advocacy and access for individuals with limited English proficiency. Prior to this work, Ms. Tran was an Initiative for Public Interest at Yale Fellow in the Employment Unit at CLS. Before law school, she was a Voting Rights Organizer at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Programs Fellow at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and Project Coordinator of the inaugural Summer Youth Career Exploration Program at BPSOS – Delaware Valley. Ms. Tran is President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania and a Board Member of SEAMAAC. She earned her JD from the Temple University Beasley School of Law and her BA from New York University, where she majored in Asian/Pacific/American Studies.

Trent Hargrove has held positions in the public and private practice of law and served in some capacity for every Pennsylvania Governor and Attorney General between 1980 and 2010. He has practiced in the areas of utilities, real estate, administrative law, and civil rights.

Ms. Petrova has worked for the AOPC Interpreter Program since 2012. She was recently promoted to Program Director position. She has diverse experience as an interpreter, translator, trainer, and administrator. A native of Western Siberia, Ms. Petrova has Master’s degree in teaching English and French as a foreign language and worked as a free-lance Russian-English interpreter and translator for PA and NJ judiciary. She a state court interpreter and certified medical interpreter (CMI). Ms. Petrova is a member of PA Association of Court Management (PACM), American Translators Association (ATA) and Delaware Valley Translators Association (DVTA).

Trent Hargrove has held positions in the public and private practice of law and served in some capacity for every Pennsylvania Governor and Attorney General between 1980 and 2010. He has practiced in the areas of utilities, real estate, administrative law, and civil rights. The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) named Trent as its chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer in January of 2014. He has an extensive background in DEI issues, processes, and development. He is responsible for overseeing and facilitating the PBA’s efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within the PBA and Pennsylvania’s legal profession. Trent served as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s first Chief Diversity Officer where he was charged with the management of a major new initiative to evaluate the Commonwealth’s diversity programs and implement best practices. Trent worked in the Governor’s Office of General Counsel in several positions and multiple agencies including serving as Chief Counsel to the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. In this capacity, he was the chief legal advisor to the Secretary of General Services and other Department personnel. Trent also worked as a Chief Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights Enforcement in the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and served on the United States Attorney General’s Hate Crimes Working Group for State and Local Law Enforcement Training. He assisted the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission and conducted training for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Trent also chaired the Governor’ Alliance for Law Enforcement and Community Relations. Trent has also worked as in-house counsel and in a large firm environment where he concentrated in the areas of real estate, municipal and public land development and finance, administrative law, and retail leasing. Trent is a native of Harrisburg and attended Harrisburg public schools and the McDonogh School. He is a graduate of Bucknell University where he earned a Bachelor Arts degree and the Penn State Dickinson School of Law where he earned a Juris Doctor degree.