Krisztina Szabo is a staff attorney with Whitman-Walker Health, an unwavering advocate of the LGBTQ community for nearly 40 years. June is LGBTQ Pride Month, and we would like to recognize Krisztina for her tireless work in providing free legal assistance to DC’s LGBTQ community. (You can also read about her organization, Whitman-Walker Health, in this month’s Grantee Spotlight.)
Name Krisztina Szabo
Job/Position Staff Attorney
Organization Whitman-Walker Health Legal Services
Years on the Job Almost 3 years
Little known fact about your organization Many of our Legal Services clients are not Whitman-Walker Health patients
Where did you grow up? Hungary and South Carolina
What brought you to DC? AU WCL’s Law & Government LLM program
What was your first job in DC, and what did you learn? Staff Attorney at Ayuda, which confirmed that I love direct services work.
INTERESTING FACTS
Daily Habit Cuddling with my cat, Sheldon.
Favorite app Polytopia
Favorite Movie Forrest Gump
Favorite Restaurant Le Diplomate
Favorite Vacation Spot Aruba or Paris
Guilty Pleasure Anything sweet, especially macaroons
One Item from your Bucket List Swimming with manatees
Hobbies Travelling/travel planning and balcony gardening
Hero Mom, clients, mentors, and Justice Sotomayor & RBG
News Source(s) Al Jazeera, MSNBC, WaPo, and NPR
One thing (other than your phone) you never leave the house without is… Coffee and kindness
You get to paint a mural on the side of the White House. What do you paint? The Constitution, in bold print
CAREER PATH
Biggest failure and what you learned Overplanning can inhibit flexibility & creativity
Most rewarding element of your work Seeing my clients thrive
List three main challenges you faced early on in your career Fear of being wrong, time management, and overplanning
If I hadn’t become a lawyer, I would be a… Teacher or a foreign service officer
If I weren’t working at Whitman-Walker, I would be… Working at another legal services organization
LEGAL AID
Legal aid is important to me because . . . It is a conduit for equity
Your dream for our legal system is… A more diverse judiciary and law enforcement
The most pressing civil legal aid issue in DC is… Access to public benefits and housing
Would you like to tell us about your role in DC’s legal aid community? Fill out our Partner Profile Survey and share your story in an upcoming newsletter.
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