AHLC People

The Appignani Humanist Legal Center is constantly growing. Our Legal Team includes dozens of volunteer attorneys, as well as several law students and other administrators. It is led by Legal Coordinator Michael Friedman, with input from American Humanist Association President Mel Lipman, a constitutional law expert, and guidance and funding from Louis Appignani.

Louis Appignani

Louis Appignani is a successful entrepreneur from Miami, a longtime Humanist and member of the AHA, and the founder of the Appignani Foundation. Through the foundation, Appignani and others encourage the spread of humanistic values through secular organizations and activities- thus contributing to the growth of the Humanist movement. Appignani currently serves as chairman and founder of LouJA Realty Inc. He was also the chairman and founder of Computer Education Inc., and Barbizon International Modeling School and has served on the boards of several professional civic organizations. He earned a BBA in accounting from CUNY-Baruch and an MS in finance from Columbia University. He attended postgraduate studies in economics at Indiana University.

Mel Lipman

AHA President and AHLC Legal Team member Mel Lipman is a lawyer, a chartered bank auditor and a former supervising examiner for the Federal Reserve Board who lives in Las Vegas. He is also a former board member of the Nevada Civil Liberties Union and remains active in many ACLU efforts. A Humanist minister, Lipman is a member of the Las Vegas Interfaith Council and frequently lectures on church-state issues. He is also a founding member of the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada, has served as its president for four years, and is now a board member and spokesperson for the group. Though retired from full-time legal practice, he works as an arbitrator and mediator while teaching constitutional law at the Nevada campus of the University of Phoenix.

Bob Ritter

As legal coordinator of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, Bob Ritter directs the legal center's activity and represents the AHA in its advocacy and coalition efforts

A native Washingtonian, Ritter has been a civil liberties advocate since picketing to integrate the (former) Glebe Theater in Arlington, Virginia in the late 1950’s.

Ritter is a member of the Virginia and District of Columbia bars. He received his J.D. from the Northern Virginia Law School in 1986 and B.A. in government from the University of Virginia in 1972. He has served on the Northern Virginia Chapter board of the ACLU of Virginia for almost 20 years. Ritter resides in Falls Church, Virginia with his wife, Nga, son, Vincent and daughter, Vivian.

Bob Ritter’s top priority is to ensure that the Humanists and all other persons are fairly treated by our legal system by vigorously opposing government sponsorship of religion (as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment).

Please use the form on our Contact Page to contact the staff of the AHLC.