Felicity Levey (she/her)

Co-Founder, Paladin

Merges law, technology, and social justice, catalyzing pro bono connections for meaningful access to justice.

Felicity Levey was only two years removed from NYU Law, a new hand at a major New York law firm, when a pro bono case changed her life. She was representing a Colombian man whose family had fled terrorist violence and were seeking asylum. “It was the kind of case you’d see on television,” she says. Levey’s team successful defense prevented a deportation that would have effectively been a death sentence. “It was my ‘a-ha’ moment,” she says. “I’d made such a real and immediate impact on a person’s life.”

Although pro bono work has deep roots in the legal community, Levey realized—in the wake of her exhilarating experience—that there was no obvious way for people in need of representation, and lawyers eager to help them, to find each other. She set out to fill that void, overcoming the legal community's kneejerk resistance to technology to found Paladin: a legal services company that is also a tech company that is also a social justice company.

Paladin’s intuitive software has facilitated thousands of pro bono connections, giving vulnerable and under-resourced individuals access to justice. The company has been featured in dozens of high-profile media outlets and its runaway success has made Levey—whose many accolades include the 2019 NYU Law Pro Bono Award—evaluate her future through a social-impact lens. “What constitutes a meaningful life?” she asks. “How can we live in a way that improves humanity? I want to address these questions in everything I do going forward.”