Name:		Maxim Thorne
		Month:		January 2004
		Schools:		Yale, BA, 1989 Yale (Law), JD, 1992
		Organization:		Passaic County Legal Aid Society
		Title:		Deputy Director

Maxim Thorne is an advocate for the poverty community. He has focused on the complex interplay of factors affecting low-income communities, including non-profits and private enterprise, Educational opportunity, health and childcare, Technology and the Internet, and supportive legal and political infrastructure. He has also worked in the area of International Relations and Justice

Throughout his professional career, Mr. Thorne has combined legal and policy approaches to capacity building in communities. He gained litigation experience as an associate with a premier corporate law firm and Deputy Director of the Legal Aid Society. He served as legal advisor to the transition team of Jose "Joey" Torres, Mayor of Paterson, and consultant to the Federated States of Micronesia at the United Nations, where he worked to increase trade relationships, improve the global recognition of small island nations and to protect the environmental and economic rights of indigenous peoples. During his tenure, Mr. Thorne represented the Federated States of Micronesia in multilateral governmental negotiations, and authored numerous papers for the Pacific Islands as well as for the United Nations Global Conference for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

Mr. Thorne is active in public service. He serves on numerous boards, including: Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey and the Barnert Hospital Foundation, Paterson City Council Cable Television, Paterson Alliance, New Jersey Head Start Association, NJ EASE and NJ NAACP. Additionally, he is an active member of the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA) and maintains ties to the university. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Yale Law School's Public Service Program and has been a Graduate Mentor in Residence at the Yale Law School since 1997.

Mr. Thorne joined the Passaic County Legal Aid Society in 1996, and has served as Deputy Director since June 1998. He brings to the Legal Aid Society extensive legal experience at both the international and local levels. Dedicated to the economic empowerment of historically neglected communities, Mr. Thorne created the Community and Economic Development law unit in Passaic County in 1997 and started the Economic Empowerment Partnership Initiative (EEPI) at the Legal Aid Society.

Among many innovations, Mr. Thorne created and is Executive Producer of two Cable TV programs: Know Your Rights, Working Together for Equal Justice, and Education in Your Neighborhood.

Mr. Thorne's childhood was spent in British Guyana and the Bahamas, before he relocated to the United States. He speaks three languages, and is a devotee of salsa dancing, classical and reggae music, and Indo-Chinese and Caribbean cuisine.