Washington, DC – Constitutional Accountability Center is proud to announce the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors: Vivek H. Maru, founder and CEO of Namati, an NGO that is focused on grassroots legal advocacy in communities around the world, and Andrew J. Pincus, a partner in the law firm Mayer Brown in Washington, D.C.. 

CAC President Elizabeth Wydra said, “Vivek and Andy are amazing additions to an already stellar group of Board members. Each is a national leader in his respective field of legal advocacy, whose guidance will be indispensable to us as we navigate challenges and opportunities for advancing progressive constitutional values in the years to come. Vivek’s experience in the nonprofit sector is nothing short of extraordinary, providing a unique perspective that will add immense value to the work we do, while Andy is an indefatigable advocate and an institution in the Supreme Court bar, whose wisdom will only help deepen CAC’s already impressive impact on the courts.”

“I couldn’t be more excited for the future of CAC,” Wydra said.

Maru and Pincus join CAC Board Chair Eldie Acheson, Yale Law School Professor Akhil Amar, Ropes & Gray partner Peter Erichsen, Judge Juliet McKenna, and Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean Jim Ryan. Full biographies of Maru and Pincus are below.

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Vivek H. Maru is founder and CEO of Namati, an NGO that is focused on grassroots legal advocacy in communities around the world. Vivek founded Namati in 2011, and with its partners has built cadres of grassroots legal advocates – also known as “community paralegals”– in ten countries. The advocates have worked with over 40,000 people to protect community lands, enforce environmental law, and secure basic rights to healthcare and citizenship. From 2003 to 2007, Vivek co-founded and co-directed the Sierra Leonean organization Timap for Justice, which has been recognized by the International Crisis Group, Transparency International, and President Jimmy Carter as a pioneering model for delivering justice services in the context of a weak state and a plural legal system. From 2007 to 2011, he served as senior counsel in the Justice Reform Group of the World Bank. His work focused on rule of law reform and governance, primarily in West Africa and South Asia. Vivek serves on the board of trustees of Avaaz, the international advisory council of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, the advisory board of the evaluation firm ID Insight, and the board of the International Senior Lawyers Project. He was an affiliate expert with the UN Commission on Legal Empowerment, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Vivek graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Yale Law School. He writes regularly in academic journals and in the press. He also directs the Legal Empowerment Leadership Course at Central European University.

Andrew J. Pincus is a partner in the law firm Mayer Brown LLP in Washington, D.C.  Andy focuses his appellate practice on briefing and arguing cases in the Supreme Court of the United States and in federal and state appellate courts, developing legal strategy for trial courts, and presenting policy and legal arguments to Congress, state legislatures, and regulatory agencies. Andy is a former Assistant to the Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice, has argued 25 cases in the Supreme Court, and is the co-founder and current co-director of the Yale Law School’s Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic (2006-present), which provides pro bono representation in 10-15 Supreme Court cases each year. , Andy’s practice also includes detailed written and oral advocacy before Congress, other legislative bodies, and regulatory agencies regarding a variety of policy and legal issues. Before rejoining Mayer Brown, Andy served as General Counsel of Andersen Worldwide S.C. Following his law school graduation, Andy was a law clerk  to the Honorable Harold H. Greene, United States District Court for the District of Columbia (1981-1982), after which he practiced with another major law firm in Washington. Andy received his B.A. cum laude from Yale College in 1977 and his J.D. from Columbia University Law School.

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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