Urban Justice Center
Melissa Z. is a highly experienced attorney specializing in disability law and civil legal rights, currently serving as Supervising Attorney at Urban Justice Center since January 2024 and previously as Managing Attorney for the Community Inclusion Team at Disability Rights New Jersey since November 2021. Prior roles include Director of the Disability Advocacy Project at Brooklyn Legal Services, where responsibilities included supervising legal teams, conducting trainings, and representing low-income clients in federal disability cases. Melissa has also held positions as Senior Staff Attorney in the Mental Health Project at Urban Justice Center, and as Staff Attorney for the Permanency Legal Assistance Needs Project at Nassau Suffolk Law Services, effectively advocating for clients across various legal proceedings. Educated with a J.D. from Penn State Dickinson Law and a BA in Psychology from Binghamton University, Melissa has demonstrated a commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within legal practices.
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Urban Justice Center
True pioneers often set out with limited resources, no clear path and no instructions. Nonetheless, they move boldly forward. In 1984, Douglas Lasdon launched the Urban Justice Center (UJC) in much the same way, from a burned out building in East Harlem, with almost no funding. He took his legal expertise to soup kitchens, jails, and shelters (places others would not go) and set up free legal clinics. Forty years later, in spite of social opposition and division, UJC remains a champion of change. Today, UJC is composed of many longstanding Anchor Projects, who serve tens of thousands of people a year, on critical issues ranging from homelessness, to discrimination, to seeking asylum, to escaping intimate partner violence. Each Project is led by experts in the field, who devise their own strategy for making change, often combining free direct legal services to those in need with impact litigation, social services, community organizing, legislative advocacy, “know your rights” trainings, and more. As well, through our Social Justice Accelerator, we incubate groundbreaking new projects that are fighting new wrongs or bringing new approaches to longstanding issues. By providing them with material support, guidance, and a community of fellow advocates with hundreds of cumulative hours of experience, we help them leap over the early, difficult stages of nonprofits growth, and get directly to affecting change in their issue area. This two-pronged approach allows us to meet the ongoing advocacy needs of our clients, while allowing us to stay nimble and meet new and emerging social justice issues. To find out more, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram; check out our website (www.urbanjustice.org); or sign up for our Justice Elerts newsletter (https://www.urbanjustice.org/newsletter/).