FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CLEVELAND - Toledo defense attorney Jeffrey Gamso has been named Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, the ACLU announced today. Gamso, previously an ACLU of Ohio volunteer attorney, assumed leadership of the agency's statewide legal department and litigation docket on June 1st.
"The people of Ohio deserve the diligence of the ACLU to defend freedom," Gamso said. "I foresee lots of travel to bring the mission of the ACLU of Ohio to communities across the state."
Gamso will soon make his public debut in communities throughout the state during the ACLU of Ohio's 2004 Summer Freedom Tour. Gamso will speak to audiences about pressing civil liberties issues, including marriage rights for same-sex couples and the USA PATRIOT Act.
"In the last few years, the government has stripped Americans of basic civil liberties in the name of national security," Gamso said, "but we do no service to freedom when we suppress it in order to save it."
Gamso has been an active member of the ACLU since 1984, serving as past president of the Northwest Ohio chapter and vice president of the Ohio Board of Directors. He is president and co-founder of the Maumee Valley Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to the Public Defender Commission. A passionate opponent of the death penalty, Gamso represents about five percent of Ohio's death row prisoners.
Gamso was recently declared an Ohio "SuperLawyer" of 2004 by Law and Politics Magazine. He was selected for the prestigious list based on a survey of 33,000 Ohio attorneys. Lawyers chosen for the honor comprise only five percent of attorneys in the Ohio Bar Association.
Gamso completed graduate coursework in English at Michigan State University and received his J.D. from the Texas Tech University School of Law in 1987.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan ACLU of Ohio is a state affiliate of the national ACLU. Funded entirely through charitable gifts and membership dues, the ACLU defends individual rights through litigation, lobbying, and educational initiatives. The ACLU of Ohio has a staff office in Cleveland and community and campus chapters located in every region of Ohio. There are over 17,900 ACLU members and supporters in Ohio and over 400,000 nationwide.