President, Board of Directors

Steve Eppler-Epstein is the executive director of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc. (CLS), which provides comprehensive civil legal help to low-income people throughout most of Connecticut. CLS’ lawyers are focused on achieving justice for low-income people and protecting and improving their lives. Steve, in particular, has advocated for continuous improvement of the legal services response to the needs of victims of domestic violence.

Steve was a staff attorney with CLS for eleven years before becoming deputy director in 1995 and then executive director in 2007. As a staff attorney, his work focused on family/domestic violence law and public benefits law. His activities included client representation, community outreach, and lobbying. As a young attorney, Steve was an uninvited guest in the 1986 Governor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence, and ended up being enlisted to co-draft the major changes in domestic violence laws enacted that year. He returned to extensive lobbying work in the early 1990’s, as CLS’ lead lobbyist in efforts to minimize the damage from the legislature’s determination to eviscerate Connecticut’s “poor laws.” He was a regular trainer on welfare law, family law, and domestic violence law, and also wrote/co-wrote numerous articles and informational pamphlets on family law and domestic violence. 

In addition to serving on the CLAE board of directors, Steve has been very active in the development of CLAE’s Leadership Institute, serving on the design team, as a mentor, and a volunteer trainer. Previously, Steve also served on the board of directors of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. In 1991 he received the Governor’s Victim Services Award, and he has been recognized for his work against domestic violence by the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 1992 and 2008. He served from 2003 – 2005 on the board of directors and chair of the Social Justice Committee of Temple Beth Tikvah in Madison, Connecticut.

Currently, Steve serves on the Coordinating Work Group of the Connecticut Domestic Violence Legal Assistance Partnership Initiative, a collaboration between Domestic Violence programs, CCADV, and the legal assistance programs that is funded by the federal Office of Violence Against Women. He is also a fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, and co-chair of the Advisory Council to the Judicial Branch Office of Victim Services.