Lana Kleiman is a native New Yorker, who moved to Charleston, SC, with her husband and two daughters in 2017. Lana has spent nearly her entire career working with underserved communities and fighting for access to justice for all. Upon graduation, Lana was offered a job at DLA Piper, LLP, a large corporate law firm in New York City, as a litigation associate. However, due to the economic recession in 2008, she was given the opportunity to take a year to do pro-bono work at a non-profit organization. As a first-generation American and daughter of Russian immigrants, she was interested in working with the immigrant community in New York City. Therefore, she readily accepted the opportunity to work in the Immigrant Protection Unit at New York Legal Assistance Group (“NYLAG”), one of New York City’s leading nonprofits providing legal services to low-income New Yorkers. This was a fortuitous opportunity as it set the course for the rest of her public interest career. Thereafter, Lana went on to work at DLA Piper and then two years later, returned to NYLAG, where she worked in the Family Law Unit, representing victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and trauma, as well as taking on the role of Coordinator of Project Eden, which worked with the Orthodox Jewish community to raise awareness of domestic violence.
Shortly after moving to Charleston, in April 2019, Lana accepted the role of Executive Director at Charleston Legal Access, South Carolina’s first and only non-profit, sliding-scale law firm whose mission is to expand access to justice by providing affordable and quality legal services to those who do not qualify for free legal services but cannot afford a private attorney at market rates. Under Lana’s tenure, the organization has grown significantly from a staff of three to nine, quadrupled its budget, and started the first Housing Court in Berkeley and Dorchester County. In addition, Lana served on the Steering Committee for the South Carolina Statewide Civil Legal Needs Assessment commissioned by the SC Access to Justice Commission.
Lana is a 2019 Riley Fellow with the Riley Institute's Diversity Leaders Initiative. She is the proud recipient of the 2021 Trident United Way Nonprofit Leader of the Year Award and was named a Leader in Law in 2022 by South Carolina Lawyers Weekly. Also, Lana serves on the Board of My Sister’s House, a domestic violence prevention agency in the Lowcountry, SC.
Lana graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 2009 and graduated from New York University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree.