​Lawyer. Advocate. Trainer. Consultant.

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For more than 25 years, Justine has devoted her career to advocating for social justice, equality, and victim's rights. She is an attorney, advocate, trainer and analyst who has worked in the trenches - as a litigator, activist, and advocate.  She specializes in the arenas of child sexual abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and women's rights.

In Tribute:Honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Life and Legacy

September 25, 2020

 I went to law school because of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  
 
As a young feminist organizer and activist, I learned about her brilliant strategy as an advocate attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project.  I wanted to be like Justice Ginsburg, to use the law to help advance equality.  
 
Sitting in the room with Justice Ginsburg during my post-graduate fellowship with the Women’s Law and Public Policy Program at Georgetown Law was truly one of the most powerful influential moments in my career.  Justice Ginsburg had recently recovered from a bout of cancer, a fact that was not at the time widely known.  She entered the room where we met with her at the Supreme Court, and a feeling of awe and gravitas swept over our small group.  As she sat gingerly and spoke quietly about her path to the Supreme Court, she told the story of her history.  She spoke of how she had been treated as a woman lawyer who couldn’t get a job after law school, and about how far we have come since then.  She described her work at ACLU women’s rights project, her step by step, case by case, strategic approach to individual cases to change the meaning of the Constitution to include women.  
 
It was clear Justice Ginsburg felt it was critically important to tell us, a group of young and eager women’s rights lawyers, how it was that we got where we were.  As a young lawyer acutely aware of  continued inequalities and the challenges we faced, I also cherished throughout my career another piece of advice she offered that day.  She told us she believed dwelling in anger in the face of injustice was a “waste of energy” telling us that she coped with the hostility to her as an advocate for women’s rights by being the best lawyer she could be.
 
Her last comments to us during that meeting are also seared into my mind, especially now. Towards the end, I asked her what she thought the most important equality battles for our generation of women’s rights lawyers would be.  I expected her to talk about equal pay, or continued problems of race and gender based employment discrimination.  Instead, she said that the roll back of our reproductive rights would be the most crucial battle we faced.  She talked about the lack of meaningful reproductive freedom for poor women and women of color, and the significant trend in the Court eroding the Roe and Casey decisions, explaining that without reproductive freedom, equality for women was not possible.   
 
The next time I had the privilege of being in Justice Ginsburg’s presence was at the storied Sewall Belmont House, the home of the National Women’s Party during the final days of the suffrage movement, in the Summer of 2018 an event which I was truly honored to suggest and help to organize. As I watched the Justice take the stage and listened to her quiet brilliance once again, I was reminded of that day long ago when I met her as a young lawyer.  There was a profound respect in the energy of the room as she once again offered her answers to each question with a very precise explanation of our legal history. 
 
Listening that day, it felt as if Justice Ginsburg was once again trying to make sure each of the leaders in attendance truly understood what it took to get we are, case by case, step by step. I found myself reflecting deeply on my own career, hoping I was doing enough, as she mentioned the work yet to be done to guarantee equality for women. She talked that day about the work ahead, noting the absence of an Equal Rights Amendment - the lack of a Constitutional guarantee for equality on the basis of sex, and the lack of meaningful reproductive freedom for poor women and women of color. For me, Justice Ginsburg’s history, life and legacy isn’t about the past, and it isn’t just about dissenting, it is about understanding our history but always looking forward, to making justice and equality under the law meaningful and real, for all of us.

Statement on Anti-Racist Protests and Police Violence

May 2020
Black Americans have been subjected to institutionalized racism for generations, leading to countless deaths at the hands of police, widespread disadvantage, discrimination and a radically unequal society where people's opportunities, health and safety, are far too often dictated by the color of ones skin.  Understandably, the murder of George Floyd by 4 police officers has sparked massive protests in Pennsylvania and in all 50 states in our country and around the world. As an activist, I am heartened to see the widespread support being expressed across the nation for reform of racist systems of oppression that have for far too long been allowed to undermine, disadvantage, and harm black people and communities.

 As a lawyer, I am hopeful that these protests will lead to significant reforms across our civil and criminal justice system and society.   I am also deeply disturbed by the response by many police agencies and the federal government to these protests. American citizens have the right of peaceful assembly and protest under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The unconscionable display of police and military force directed at citizens excercizing their Constitutional rights of protest should worry everyone, whether you are a protestor or not.  Today, we are seeing a dangerous escalation in police tactics that are more commonly seen in authoritarian countries in response to civil unrest. 

As an American, it is my hope that our leaders will step up and decide the Constitution of the United States of America requires the protection of protestors and the wholesale examination of our institutions and systems toward the goal of equal justice.  It is far too long in coming.

Boy Scouts of America has filed Bankruptcy in face of thousands of child sexual abuse cases. 
Attorney Andronici's Statement on the Boy Scouts of America Bankruptcy Filing

​"The Boy Scouts of America Bankruptcy filing is not the end of the road for victim-survivors who are seeking justice and it is not necessarily too late for those who still want to seek compensation for the harm they suffered at the hands of abusive Boy Scout leaders. 

Bankruptcy is often misunderstood.  When an organization like BSA files in the face of claims from victims, it doesn't mean that there is no possibility for victim compensation, just that there is a different, new process for that.

​The BSA filing is not the end of accountability for the Boy Scouts. In fact, the process will open the doors for many other survivors who couldn't file before. Many BSA victims who had no chance at justice due to outmoded child sexual abuse statute of limitations laws in their state, like those that we have in Pennsylvania, may now have a short window - a chance to bring their claims regardless of the statute of limitations."


Read more here about BSA filing.

OWN IT PENN 2019
Andronici Speaks to Penn Law & Wharton Students about Women's Leadership

Justine spoke to Penn undergraduate and graduate students at OWN IT Penn 2019, held at University of Pennsylvania.  Discussing  redesigning the table, redefining success, making room for others, owning privilege, and the future of women's leadership.

On Brett Kavanaugh & SCOTUS Hearings 

Justine speaks in opposition to Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation.
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“I think the questions that we’re asking are all wrong,” Andronici said. “Not whether or not we’re denying this man a seat on the Supreme Court unjustly, but how . . . did he even get to this level in the process? It’s pretty clear to me that they knew stuff like this was out there, and they chose to push him through anyway. Because they thought that women in the country would be silent. And I think the time for silence is past.”