NEW YORK, NY — CUNY School of Law announces Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), as the 2026 W. Haywood Burns Chair in Human and Civil Rights.
At a time of profound challenges to civil rights, democracy, and equal justice, the Burns Chair reflects CUNY Law’s commitment to preparing the next generation of public interest lawyers.
Nelson will join CUNY Law for a year-long period of public dialogues, mentorship, student-centered collaboration, and independent study. The Chair honors W. Haywood Burns, CUNY Law’s second dean and a pioneering civil rights lawyer and educator who championed a model of legal education focused on preparing lawyers to serve people, not power. As the first Black dean of a law school in New York State, Burns encouraged lawyers to focus on advancing the public good.
“Janai Nelson’s outstanding career embodies the values at the heart of the Burns Chair,” said Interim Dean Natalie Gomez-Velez. “Her groundbreaking work defending voting rights, advancing racial justice, and strengthening our democracy offers our students an extraordinary opportunity to learn from a leader who is shaping the future of civil rights law. We are delighted to welcome her to CUNY Law.”
As President and Director-Counsel of LDF, the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality, Nelson directs the organization’s programmatic strategy and operations. In October 2025, she argued Louisiana v. Callais before the U.S. Supreme Court, defending equitable congressional representation for Black voters in Louisiana and the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. She was also lead counsel in Veasey v. Abbott (2018), a successful federal challenge to Texas’s voter ID law, and lead architect of NUL v. Trump (2020), which challenged the constitutionality of the Trump administration’s ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion training before the order was rescinded.
“The future of our multi-racial democracy rests on our ability to secure these fundamental guarantees for every member of our society: civil rights, human rights, dignity, and equal protection under law,” said Nelson. “I am honored to help uphold the enduring legacy of W. Haywood Burns—scholar, advocate, and LDF alum—to ensure CUNY Law students are equipped to use the power of law to improve society, advance justice, and serve human needs.”
An impressive and experienced scholar of voting rights and election law, Nelson has taught election law, voting rights, constitutional law, and racial equity strategies. Before joining LDF in 2014, she was a professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship at St. John’s University School of Law. Earlier in her career, she served as Director of LDF’s Political Participation Group, overseeing voting rights and redistricting litigation.
“Janai Nelson’s extraordinary leadership of the Legal Defense Fund and her distinguished career as an advocate, litigator, scholar, and educator have made an indelible contribution to the fight for racial justice and equality,” said Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright ’92. “From defending the Voting Rights Act before the United States Supreme Court to advancing groundbreaking scholarship on voting rights and election law, she embodies the courage and commitment at the heart of W. Haywood Burns’ legacy. I am proud to celebrate her appointment as CUNY Law’s 2026 Burns Chair and the powerful example she will provide to the next generation of public-interest lawyers.”
A graduate of New York University and UCLA School of Law, Nelson joins a distinguished roster of Burns Chairs that includes Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Vince Warren (2023), Pulitzer Prize winner James Forman Jr. (2024), and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke (2025).
CUNY Law is grateful to the generous supporters of this year’s W. Haywood Burns Chair in Human and Civil Rights, including Assembly Member Rebecca A. Seawright ’92, Chair of the CUNY Law Foundation Board of Visitors, State Senator Jamaal T. Bailey ’12, Assembly Member Catalina Cruz ’09, State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Assemblymember Claire Valdez and Assemblymember Steven Raga.
About CUNY School of Law
The City University of New York School of Law is the nation’s leading public interest law school with a dual mission: to recruit and train outstanding public interest lawyers and to diversify the legal profession so that it includes and reflects people and communities needed to transform justice.