Alexia Kulwiec, Esq. – Executive Director
Alexia resides in Madison, Wisconsin and is a licensed attorney in both Illinois and Wisconsin. Alexia has practiced law for over twenty years, has extensive litigation experience and experience in leading and managing attorneys.
Alexia also has an appointment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she has studied domestic fair trade on mid-sized farms, published and presented on farm labor issues, and teaches in the area of labor and employment law. This experience has inspired Alexia’s interest in agriculture and the U.S. food system, triggering an interest in promoting smaller scale and sustainable farming. Alexia is published in several legal journals including an analysis of Poultry Growers as Employees in the Labor Law Journal. She has served on the Madison food policy council, and been active with other food and agriculture related organizations.
Alexia is currently working on an advanced law degree in Food and Agricultural Law, holds a J.D. from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Judith McGeary, Esq.
Judith McGeary is an attorney, activist, and sustainable farmer. After earning her Bachelors of Science from Stanford University and her law degree with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin, she clerked for a Federal Appeals Court and went on to private law practice. During that time, she became a passionate advocate of sustainable agriculture, and she and her husband established their own livestock farm. After seeing how government regulations benefit industrial agriculture at the expense of family farms, she founded the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance to promote common-sense policies for local, diversified agricultural systems. Judith has been profiled in the Texas Observer, Edible Austin and Edible Houston, appears in the documentary Farmageddon, and has been interviewed on numerous radio shows across the country. Judith is on the Board of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, has served for several years as the Vice Chair of the USDA Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health, and is also active with Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Susan Israel, Esq.
Suzy Israel is a solo practitioner in Redlands, California. She helps small farmers and homesteaders navigate myriad regulations, and defends them against government intrusion. Prior to her work with FTCLDF, Suzy spent fifteen years as a deputy public defender, protecting the accused from the government.
Brandy McAllister, Esq.
Brandy McAllister is an attorney in Arkansas with a legal background in government litigation as well as policy work. In addition to being an Arkansas licensed attorney, Brandy is also the WAPF chapter leader for Little Rock and in 2013 she worked with the Weston A. Price Foundation to help legalize the sale of raw milk in Arkansas. Brandy has a B.A. in marketing from Mt. Mercy University in Iowa and a J.D. with high honors from William H. Bowen School of Law in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Julie Gerard, Esq.
Julie is an attorney from southern California who has been fighting for justice for over thirty years. When she is not working on food freedom in America, she is tending to her large organic garden and farm stand, raising chickens, playing with her dogs, kayaking, weaving, fermenting, traveling, and hanging out with her goat-loving friends. Along with her dedicated husband, she has raised three great boys and has recently been blessed with a farm-loving granddaughter who Julie is teaching to love and respect this beautiful earth and all its bounty.
Interested in Helping?
We are seeking low/pro bono legal assistance to help to secure food freedom for members and consumers across the country. Sometimes our attorneys on staff need to partner with an attorney in a specific state for legal work, and this requires a vast network of attorneys across the country.
Providing legal services for the FTCLDF is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic nonprofit organization, making real and lasting change in how small farmers are able to conduct their operations. Attorneys working with the FTCLDF help members protect their rights to sell nutrient-dense foods from small family farms, keep backyard chickens, market homemade ferments, and more. If you are an attorney and would like to learn more or apply, please submit your responses using our Join Our Attorney Network Form or contact Katherine Ghantous at [email protected]