Adjuncts both new and returning share a wealth of experience from the front lines of social justice. You’ll find them teaching Indigenous Americans and the Law, Critical Race Theory, Abolition of Modern Day Carceral Systems, Disability & the Law, and more.
Beena Ahmad ’10
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Teaching: Law Seminar 1
“I came to CUNY Law as a student because I was ready to fight for social justice, and I wanted to learn how. I returned to CUNY as an instructor to pay it forward. I stay here because our students teach us to redefine social justice and inspire us to keep fighting.”
Beena Ahmad has taught Lawyering Seminars I, II, and II-B, served as co-advisor of the CUNY Law Moot Court team, and worked with the Pipeline to Justice Program.
Beena is also currently of counsel to Kunstler Law, where she provides indigent defense in federal criminal cases at the district court and appellate levels. In 2015, Beena was a visiting researcher with the Wits Justice Project at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prior to that, she was an associate with O’Dwyer & Bernstien, LLP, where she worked on labor and personal injury cases in the state and federal courts.
Beena is a volunteer and board member of NYC Books Through Bars. Finally, Beena is a proud alum of CUNY Law’s class of 2010. In law school, she participated in the Defenders Clinic, Moot Court, CUNY Law Review, and the Mississippi Project.
Aleka Asamoah
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Teaching: Law Seminar PT
After law school, Aleka Asamoah served as a Poverty Justice Fellow and pro bono attorney, providing holistic representation to New Yorkers facing criminal, civil, and administrative proceedings.
During that time, she enjoyed interacting with the public by leading community outreach clinics, workshops, and various “Know-Your-Rights” training.
She now practices intellectual property law, serves as an Administrator Law Judge, and teaches an immersive pre-law program and first-year Lawyering Seminar at the CUNY School of Law.
Ana Avendaño
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Teaching: Labor Law and Employment Law
“I love teaching at CUNY because the students are amazing: smart, strategic, and driven by a quest for social justice that recognizes that law is an important part of a much larger movement for social change. I learn from my students every semester.”
Ana Avendaño is a lifelong worker advocate, having held senior positions in the labor movement, playing major roles in changing the labor movement’s position on immigration, and broadening the AFL-CIO’s vision to include worker centers and other non-traditional worker organizations.
Ana led the labor movement’s efforts on international migration and served on the drafting committee of the International Labor Organization’s Convention 189, formally recognizing the workplace rights of domestic workers.
She currently runs a consulting practice, where she helps organizations design workplaces where passion and creativity thrive, and bullies do not.
Ana is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the University of California at Berkeley.
Aissatou Barry
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Teaching: Lawyering Seminar Full Time
Aissatou Barry is a civil rights attorney dedicated to advocating on behalf of traditionally marginalized communities through social justice initiatives.
A native of Brooklyn, she has represented tenants at the Bronx Neighborhood Office of the Legal Aid Society in nonpayment and holdover housing proceedings since 2017.
Currently, Aissatou is also a Housing Attorney Trainer, curating and executing housing-related CLE training for Legal Aid staff.
In addition to being a Housing Attorney, Aissatou is a grammar instructor for high school freshmen, an advocate for youth-centered activism, and a proponent of initiatives that grow and protect the financial wealth of New Yorkers.
Robert Briglio ’86
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Teaching: Disability & the Law
Robert Briglio has practiced civil rights litigation on behalf of persons with disabilities, since graduating from the inaugural class of CUNY Law in 1986.
Most of the litigation was conducted at the Legal Services Corporation Office on Long Island.
Cases involved systemic issues related to housing, receipt of healthcare and public benefits, access to government programs, such as public transportation and pedestrian crossings, discriminatory zoning practices, and public accommodation access, among other issues.
Robert has been an administrative law judge since 1994, principally hearing matters under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act in New York City and throughout New York State.
Troy Brown
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Teaching: Wills, Trusts & Estates
In 2021, Troy S. Brown founded Brown Law Office, LLC a multi-practice, boutique law firm for institutions and private individuals who value strategic efficiency from an accomplished, experienced legal professional.
Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, Troy has extensive experience in state and federal courts across a diverse set of practice areas, including Corporate & Business Transactions, Commercial Litigation (including alternative dispute resolution), Construction & Residential Real Estate Law, Intellectual Property, Employment Law, Estate Planning, as well as Gun Trusts, “White Collar” criminal defense, and criminal defense in matters involving self-defense.
A recognized practitioner, Troy was selected as one of the “Lawyers of Distinction” in 2021 and selected to join The National Black Lawyers “Top 100” in 2020. On October 7, 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Dyvonia Burgos
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Teaching: Bar Support Instructor
Erin Cloud
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Teaching: Critical Race Theory
“I am most looking forward to learning from the CUNY students. I know they have as much to offer me as I do them.”
Erin Cloud, founding co-director of Movement for Family Power, is a dedicated advocate for families who are policed by the foster system.
She has represented more than 400 parents in child protective proceedings and supervised many more at the Bronx Defenders. While there, she led a special project at the intersection of drug policy and reproductive justice that required advanced litigation.
In 2018, Erin was a Lecturer at Law at Columbia University School of Law and the Co-Director of the Holistic Defense Clinic. She also serves on the NYS Department of Health’s AIDS Institute and the NYC Department of Health’s Sexual and Reproductive Justice Community Engagement Group. Both appointments examine the intersection of health systems with race and structural inequality. Erin is also a collaborator for Black Mamas Matters Alliance.
Erin received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, where she was a Stein Scholar for Public Interest and an Ann Moynihan Fellow for Law and Integrated Social Work. She holds a B.A. from Emory University in Spanish Language and Dance. Before attending law school, she was a public school teacher in Baltimore.
Moira Meltzer-Cohen ’12
they, them, and mo
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Teaching: Indigenous Americans and the Law
“I am so excited to be at CUNY Law to support students in taking creative, effective action for a more just world.”
Moira Meltzer-Cohen is an educator, attorney, and abolitionist, serving overlapping communities of activists, queers, and prisoners.
Their work includes criminal defense, particularly for those arrested in the course of justice struggles; representation of witnesses before federal grand juries; and advocacy for those seeking gender-affirming care while in prison.
They also work drafting agency and estate documents — quality of life planning — for individuals and families of all kinds.
Moira provides legal support and education for social movement groups working toward collective liberation, people in communities targeted by law enforcement, and other attorneys seeking to learn more about the substance and culture of representing radicals. They are admitted to practice law in New York State and all the Federal District Courts of New York. They are also licensed to practice in North Dakota, District of Bismark, and the District of Columbia.
Moira holds degrees from the University of Michigan (B.A., 2000), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.S., Educational Policy Analysis, 2003), and the CUNY School of Law (J.D., 2012). In addition to ongoing popular legal education, they have taught preschool and high school, pre-law at Hunter College, and served as a supervising attorney for the Intervening in the Criminalization of Queer Youth Clinic at Yale Law School.
Thomas A. Crowell
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Teaching: Intellectual Property
“CUNY has such a stellar reputation for social and economic justice. I’m excited to be able to help by teaching students how to protect what may be their client’s most valuable assets: the intellectual property (“IP”) of their creations and their businesses.”
In his private practice, Thomas Crowell is a partner with LaneCrowell, LLP, focusing on IP protection and transactional work in the film, television, comic book publishing, and other media industries.
Thomas has taught IP, media, and clinical law around the world and helped found the Film Clinic at Cardozo Law School, where he was the Clinical Director from Practice. He is the creator and chairperson of the CLE programs at New York Comic Con, where he has trained thousands of attorneys on transactional drafting for publishing and media agreements.
As a consultant with the Film Commissions of the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago, he has taught U.S. media and film law and worked closely with Caribbean producers and attorneys. Thomas was the first Executive Director of the New Jersey Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.
He is the author of popular legal guidebooks on IP and media law, including three editions of “The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers,” and the first dedicated legal guide to the comic book publishing industry, “The Pocket Lawyer for Comic Book Creators.” Thomas graduated with honors from Cardozo Law School and is admitted to the bars of New York, New Jersey, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Daniel Feldman
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Teaching: Public Institutions
“I’ve been teaching MPA students full-time since 2010 and part-time since 1977. I continue to enjoy that, but I also taught as an adjunct professor for five years each at Brooklyn Law School and at Fordham Law School and look forward to doing that again with CUNY Law students.”
Dan Feldman teaches as Professor of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.
His sixth book, Administrative Law: The Sources and Limits of Government Agency Power (Sage/CQ Press), was published in 2016.
A state legislator for 18 years, he also conducted major investigations during 16 years in high-level appointed offices.
He holds degrees from Columbia College and Harvard Law School, and he is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Laura Gentile ’87
she/her
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Teaching: New York Practice
“I’m here because CUNY Law students are the best in this galaxy.”
Laura Gentile has been an Adjunct Professor at CUNY Law since 1996, teaching NY Practice, Small Firm Practice, and Healthcare Advocacy. She was a member of the second graduating class of CUNY Law in 1987.
She is the managing attorney of Gentile & Associates, litigating medical malpractice, police misconduct, and general negligence actions, and serving as appellate counsel in all Appellate Divisions, the Court of Appeals, and the United States Second Circuit.
For several years she was the author of the Small Firm Life column for the New York Law Journal; she has written a book entitled True Adventures in Capitalism.
Press includes New York Times articles: “Time Bomb in Blue, Bob Herbert,” NY Times September 18, 1997; and “Family Victimized by a Stabbing and Court Delays,” Stephanie Clifford, NY Times February 1, 2016, page 1.
Laura holds a B.A. from Cornell in Geology and a J.D. from CUNY Law.
Surraya Johnson
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Teaching: Law Seminar Part Time
Michael Jaffe
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Teaching: Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Survey
“I believe strongly in CUNY Law’s public interest mission and feel privileged to be given the opportunity to bring my legal experience into the CUNY Law classroom.”
Michael Jaffe has practiced law for many years and has litigated numerous cases at both the trial and appellate levels in both state and federal courts, including a recent successful antitrust case in the United States Supreme Court (Apple v. Pepper, 139 S. Ct. 1514 (2019)).
Michael is currently of counsel at Giskan, Solotaroff & Anderson LLP, a Manhattan firm that specializes in representing victims of civil rights violations, consumer fraud, and employment discrimination. Prior to that, he was a partner at Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP, a Manhattan-based firm, where he specialized in litigating disputes against corporations.
In addition, Michael has taken on numerous pro bono matters in his career, including political asylum cases with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and he has worked in New York public schools as a volunteer mentor.
Michael is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied Political Science and Philosophy. Following graduation, he was awarded a President’s Undergraduate Fellowship to conduct research in France on the subject of antisemitism. Michael received his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.
Seann Riley
he/him
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Teaching: Law and Family Relations (LFR)
Seann Riley is the Director of Partnerships for Uptrust, a tech start-up focused on criminal justice reform through the use of technology to prevent technical violations leading to incarceration.
Prior to joining Uptrust, Seann was a public defender for 17 years. Immediately following law school, Seann was an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he represented clients in D.C. Superior Court and supervised third-year law students in the Criminal Justice Clinic. Seann then joined the Bronx Defenders, where he was a staff attorney, Training Team Leader, and then Deputy Director. After leaving the Bronx Defenders, Seann was the Director of the Center for Holistic Defense.
Most recently, he was a senior staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society in New York County. In 2013, he was awarded the Wasserstein Fellowship at Harvard Law School, which recognizes exemplary lawyers who have distinguished themselves in public interest work.
Seann received his B.A. from Georgetown University, M.S.W. from the University of Michigan, J.D. from Tulane Law School, and LL.M. in Trial Advocacy from the Georgetown Law Center.
Mikila Thompson
she/her
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Teaching: Law Seminar
“The first semester of the first year of law school is an anxiety-driven experience. I hope I can offer some calm and remind students they will get through it.”
Mikila Thompson is serving as the Interim Director of the Evening Lawyering Seminar Course and taught Lawyering Seminar for the Equity Line pilot program in the summer and fall of 2022.
She is a Staff Attorney with the Legal Aid Society of New York City in the Juvenile Rights Practice. In her role, she represents children in education matters throughout New York City. Previously, Mikila represented subject children in abuse and neglect cases throughout Brooklyn. In addition to her role as Staff Attorney, she serves as a member of the Adolescent Practice Team and trains new attorneys on litigation and interview techniques.
Mikila trains colleagues in SOGIE (Sexual Orientation Gender Identification and Expression) Interview techniques in order to ensure the complete representation of their youth clients. Outside of her professional work, she is a volunteer crisis advocate for the Safe Center Long Island, serves as a mentor for rising professionals, and is on the board of directors of Strategic Opportunities Achieving Results.
Mikila earned her B.A. in Political Science from Barnard College/Columbia University and her J.D. from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.
Jared Trujillo
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Teaching: LEDP PT and Law and the Abolition of Modern Day Carceral Systems
“I am here because I deeply believe in CUNY’s mission and student body, and I want to help foster a generation of lawyers who fight systematic oppression.”
Jared Trujillo teaches LEDP and Law & Abolition at CUNY Law. After he graduated from law school, Jared worked as a juvenile defense attorney and criminal defense attorney at the Legal Aid Society and an adjunct professor at Hofstra University School of Law, and he served as the President of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (UAW 2325).
He currently serves as Senior Policy Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, where he focuses on juvenile and criminal legal system issues, and he helps lead Decrim NY.
Jared regularly appears in local and national media, where he discusses sentencing, bail, solitary confinement, the policing of LGBTQ+ communities of color, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and the decriminalization of sex work.
Karen Kithan Yau
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Teaching: Professional Responsibility
Karen Kithan Yau is a Counsel at the law firm of Getman, Sweeney & Dunn. She dedicates her work to vindicating the rights of employees and workers.
Karen has over two decades of legal experience, including over nine years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Labor Bureau at the New York State Attorney General and was a recipient of a Skadden Fellowship at the National Employment Law Project and a Robert M. Cover Teaching Fellowship at Yale Law School.
Karen is active in bar associations and community organizations. She is on the board of directors of the Asian American Law Fund of New York, was a director of the board of the Asian American Bar Association of New York, and co-chaired AABANY’s Pro Bono and Community Service Committee while spearheading its Pro Bono Advice and Referral Clinic. She is a recipient of the New York State Bar Association’s Bar Leaders Innovation Award. Karen has been honored by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the Chinese-American Planning Council – Brooklyn Community Services for her pro bono work and contributions to the AAPI community.
Karen emigrated from Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese Chinese.
A proud daughter of garment workers who toiled long hours and the exasperated mother of two children who excel in argument as an art form, she received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law and graduated from Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Technical High School.