Urban Justice Center
Rachel Gerson serves as Pro Bono Counsel and Director of Guardianship & Health Care Advocacy at the Urban Justice Center since September 2014, having previously held roles as Staff Attorney in the Mental Health Project. An Assistant Clinical Professor at Seton Hall University School of Law from January 2022 to July 2023, Rachel was involved in the Housing Justice Project and Health Justice Clinic. Prior experience includes a law clerk position at Miriam Davidson, Esq., a postgraduate fellowship at the New York State Supreme Court, and various internships focused on guardianship, mental health law, and consumer health care issues. Rachel holds a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Cardozo School of Law and a BA in Psychology, cum laude, from Barnard College.
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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/).