Judicial adjunct work
Pigford (Black Farmers’ Case). Ms. Roth was the independent court-appointed monitor in the Pigford v. Vilsack settlement. In Pigford, a class of approximately 22,000 African-American farmers sued the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), alleging race discrimination in the administration of federal agricultural credit programs. With a staff of nearly 40 full-time employees and additional lawyers on contract, the Pigford monitor’s office: (1) wrote more than 5,800 fact-specific, detailed appeals decisions regarding individual farmers’ claims; (2) managed the scripting and quality control for a call center that took thousands of calls per month; (3) traveled throughout the South, meeting with claimants and their farm organizations to solve problems and disseminate information about the case; (4) at the federal court in Washington, DC, led frequent working meetings of the parties’ lawyers (plaintiffs’ civil rights lawyers, the Justice Department, and USDA’s General Counsel staff), and the neutrals (adjudication and arbitration neutrals and the class action administration firm); and (5) filed dozens of court reports regarding the implementation of the consent decree. For details, see the Pigford monitor website.
Fata (Criminal Health Care Fraud Case). Ms. Roth served as the Claims Facilitator in U.S. v. Fata. She contracted with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the E.D. of Michigan to support DOJ by designing and implementing a claims process to distribute funds to victims of a former hematologist-oncologist who pleaded guilty to health care fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks. As part of the defendant’s scheme, he deliberately administered medically unnecessary injections and infusions to patients, including chemotherapy, iron, cancer treatment drugs, and other medications. He also administered unnecessary diagnostic tests involving the injection of radiological material into patients. U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman imposed a sentence of 45 years in prison and ordered the defendant to forfeit assets. As Claims Facilitator, Ms. Roth, in collaboration with DOJ, designed claim forms and supporting documents, conducted focus groups with victims to obtain their input into design of process, built a website for the case, and conducted claimant information meetings in the community. Additionally, Ms. Roth prepared written reports to the Court, prepared scripts for and oversaw work of phone agents who responded to claimants’ calls, appeared in Court to provide status reports, and issued detailed written recommendations for the Court regarding each of the claims. For details, see the Fata website.
Other legal work
Before working as the Pigford monitor, Ms. Roth worked as a civil legal aid lawyer. From 1986 to 2003, she was first a staff attorney and then executive director of Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG), a national nonprofit law firm that provides legal services to low-income family farmers. From 1984-86, Ms. Roth worked on Chicago’s south side at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, representing low-income clients in a range of matters including disputes about federal benefits and about housing issues.
Philanthropy and nonprofit work
Ms. Roth served as the executive director of the Otto Bremer Foundation from 2008 to 2014. The Otto Bremer Foundation is a nearly $1 billion philanthropy that serves communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The foundation assists people in achieving full economic, civic, and social participation in and for the betterment of those communities. Additionally, Ms. Roth serves as chair of the civil legal aid grant making entity in Minnesota (the Legal Services Advisory Council to the Minnesota Supreme Court), and serves as a trustee of the Minnesota State Bar Foundation.
In addition to handling case work for Complex Settlements, Ms. Roth currently serves as the executive director of Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul. Ms. Roth also serves on the board of directors of Dwight Hall at Yale University.
Education
Ms. Roth attended college at Yale University and attended law school at Northwestern University.
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