Access to Justice Gala

Dan’s approach to life and work is informed by his upbringing. Dan knows poverty. He grew up in the very rural Northeast in a house that was not insulated, had no running water, and no bathroom. He went to a one-room school taught by Virgil Teeple, a local farmer who did not have a college degree. He knows government cheese, dehydrated eggs, and patronizing attitudes. He also knows the violence, shame, and insecurity that flow from being poor. He also understands what a great role legal services has in fighting the impacts of poverty. 

Dan was drafted into the army immediately after graduating college in 1968. After witnessing the racism and classism rampant in the army, Dan decided that he wanted to become a legal aid attorney. After graduating from NYU School of Law in 1974, Dan worked for the next 10 years in various legal services and public defender programs, including the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

In 1984, Dan joined Barry Litt in forming Litt & Stormer, which focused on civil rights cases. In 1991, he and Barbara Hadsell formed Hadsell & Stormer. Interns, law clerks, associates, and partners who have come through Hadsell & Stormer’s doors now lead or have led nonprofits, such as LAFLA and the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and are members of the judiciary.

Dan has been recognized internationally, nationally, and locally as one of the top attorneys in the United States. The California Lawyer has selected Mr. Stormer for the California Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award twice for his civil rights work. The National Law Journal described him as “one of the country’s top civil, constitutional, and international human rights lawyers.”

Dan has been married for the last 43 years to Dr. Jan Breidenbach, a force in her own right. When they met, she was a union organizer. She went on to found the Coalition for Women’s Economic Development, be the Executive Director of the Southern California Association for Non-Profit Housing, an activist leader on housing issues, and a college professor. Together they have participated in raising 9 children. As an interesting side note, in January of 2000 the L.A. Times published an article offering the opinions of 100 leaders in SoCal about our future in the new millennium. Both Dan and Jan were in it and only learned that when the article came out.

Ono has trained with the FBI, the elite Los Angeles Sheriff’s SWAT team, ICE and the Los Angeles Port Police. Three times President Obama has invited him to the White House. Twice for exclusive one on one interviews, and once to make a speech about inclusion in America. David has extensively covered the Pope. He witnessed white smoke at the Vatican twice – in 2005 for the selection of Pope Benedict the 16th and 2013 for the selection of Pope Francis. He also covered Francis’s historic visit to the United States in 2015 and his visit to Mexico in 2016.

David has produced multiple award-winning documentaries, two of which have made their way to the Smithsonian Institution.

David has won 10 Edward R. Murrow awards, 31 Emmys, 2 RTDNA National Unity Awards, 6 AAJA National Journalism Awards, and was honored with the Distinguished Journalist Award by the Society of Professional Journalists. He has also received both the journalist of the year as well as the lifetime achievement award by the LA Press Club.