Staff

Saima Akhtar Senior Attorney

Saima Akhtar joined NCLEJ in 2020 as a senior attorney with a focus on SNAP and Public Benefits, following 12 years at the Empire Justice Center. Saima has litigated matters related to accessing entitlement benefits and procedural due…

Katie Deabler Staff Attorney

Katie joined NCLEJ as a Post-Graduate Fellow in September 2015. While in law school, Katie’s work and studies focused primarily on women’s rights, including participating in the inaugural class of NYU’s Reproductive Justice Clinic. She is a graduate…

Toscane Doh Development Manager

Toscane joined NCLEJ in October 2023 as Development Manager. Before this, she spent two years in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as the Institutional Partnership and Fundraising Manager for LP4Y, an organization committed to empowering excluded young adults and accompanying them…

Patrick Fowler Communications and Fundraising Strategist

Patrick Fowler joined the NCLEJ as Communications and Fundraising Strategist in December 2022. Prior to joining NCLEJ, Patrick spent several years working on progressive political campaigns doing digital communications and fundraising work. As Digital Director of the Maryland…

Maya Rose Goldman Staff Attorney

Maya joined NCLEJ in August 2023 as a staff attorney with a focus on disability rights and public benefits. Prior to joining NCLEJ, they worked with several legal advocacy organizations on issues at the intersection of disability justice…

Carmela Huang Senior Attorney

Carmela joined NCLEJ as a Senior Attorney in January 2022. Carmela brings a background in representing low-wage workers. Carmela previously worked as a supervising attorney in the Employment Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society, a supervising attorney…

Edward P. Krugman Volunteer Senior Attorney

Ed Krugman joined the organization as a volunteer senior attorney in January 2017. Ed retired as a Partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP. Ed has successfully litigated in state and federal courts throughout the country, at trial…

Leah Lotto Senior Attorney and Associate Director of Training

As Associate Director of Training, Leah leads NCLEJ’s work to provide high quality training, professional support, supervision and mentorship to our staff members, fellows, and interns. Leah joined NCLEJ in August 2014 as the second Paul M. Dodyk…

Sara Lunden Staff Attorney

Sara joined NCLEJ as a Columbia Law School Public Interest Fellow in September 2022. Previously, she was a summer intern with NCLEJ. And during law school, she worked in various of areas of civil litigation including disability rights…

Anjana Malhotra Senior Attorney

Anjana Malhotra joins NCLEJ as a senior staff attorney, following over 15 years of experience in civil rights litigation and movement lawyering, and as a law professor. Prior to joining NCLEJ, Anji served as an Assistant Attorney General…

Shyenne Medina Staff Attorney

Shyenne joined NCLEJ in October 2023 as a staff attorney with a focus on racial justice. Prior to joining NCLEJ, Shyenne worked as a staff attorney with the Family Defense Practice at Brooklyn Defender Services, representing parents and…

Dennis D. Parker Executive Director

Dennis D. Parker is the executive director of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (“NCLEJ”). Dennis joined NCLEJ in January 2019. Prior to joining NCLEJ, Dennis served as the director of the Racial Justice Program of…

Michelle Peeples Administrative Coordinator

Michelle started at NCLEJ in 2001. Previously, Michelle worked at the Bronx Defenders as an Arraignment Clerk in the Bronx Criminal Court. She attended Hunter College, majoring in Liberal Arts.

Tripti Poddar Staff Attorney

Tripti Poddar is a staff attorney at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ). In this capacity, she works at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, as well as at the Fair Food Standards Council. Before this,…

Amandi Perera Litigation and Outreach Paralegal

Amandi Perera joined the NCLEJ as a Litigation & Outreach Paralegal in July 2023. She is a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College with a B.A. in Political Science and Religion. During college, she has had extensive experience working…

Stefen Short Special Counsel for Disability Justice Projects

Stefen R. Short is Special Counsel for Disability Justice Projects at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. He was previously Chief Counsel at Worth Rises, Supervising Attorney and Acting Deputy Director of the Prisoners’ Rights Project…

Emerie Snyder Director of Finance and Administration

Emerie Snyder joined NCLEJ in 2013 as Financial and Administrative Manager, and assumed her current role as Director of Finance and Administration in 2017. Emerie has a background in non-profit administration, and has previously worked for organizations including…

Sandra Wences Administrative Assistant

Sandra joined NCLEJ in October 2023. She is from East Harlem, where she started her working career at the New York Public Library Aguilar Branch. She moved on within NYPL to the Adult Learning Center in Lower Manhattan….

Claudia Wilner Director of Litigation and Advocacy

Claudia provides leadership on NCLEJ’s work combating unlawful civil and criminal justice debt collection practices, in addition to providing overall legal and advocacy strategy. Claudia launched New Economy Project’s groundbreaking law project, which worked with thousands of low-income…

Lisa Zucker Volunteer Senior Attorney

Lisa joined NCLEJ in February 2025 as a pro bono attorney. She has over thirty years of experience in civil liberties and civil rights matters, including workers’ rights, reproductive rights, church/state and anti-discrimination. Prior to joining NCLEJ, Lisa…