Their teaching, litigation, and scholarship reflect the depth and breadth of CUNY Law’s expertise in public interest law
CUNY School of Law welcomes seven exceptional scholars and advocates whose expertise spans immigrant rights, gender justice, constitutional law, civil rights litigation, and international human rights. Together, they bring decades of frontline advocacy, groundbreaking scholarship, and innovative teaching to our classrooms and clinics. Their work deepens CUNY Law’s commitment to producing lawyers who use the law as a tool for equity and systemic change, preparing graduates to advocate for clients and advance justice through the cases and causes that define their careers.
Naz Ahmad
Assistant Professor of Law
Co-Director, Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility Clinic
“The history and mission of the law school as a public institution designed to train lawyers to work for social justice sets CUNY apart. I am deeply committed to the mission of training the next generation of social justice lawyers and expanding diversity in the profession. I know that there is no better institution at which to work with the next generation of lawyers who are seeking to advance the social good.”
Professor Naz Ahmad (she/her) is Co-director of the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) Clinic. Having worked at CUNY Law as a staff attorney for CLEAR since 2014, Professor Ahmad represents individuals who are approached for questioning by local and federal law enforcement, targeted for surveillance, are placed on federal Watch Lists or who have had immigration benefits withheld from them on national security grounds, and Yemeni-Americans who have had their passports wrongfully revoked by the Department of State.
In recent years, Professor Ahmad’s work has placed her and CLEAR at the forefront of nationally watched cases testing the limits of free expression and government power. These include Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, Fulbright scholar Rümeysa Öztürk, and Columbia undergraduate Yunseo Chung, each facing unlawful detention or deportation for speaking out, and each defended by CLEAR’s rapid, high-stakes legal action.
She received her law degree from Columbia Law School in 2014, where she was a member of the Human Rights Clinic. As a member of the Clinic, she worked with the co-authors of the Columbia Human Rights Institute/Human Rights Watch report on federal terrorism investigations and prosecutions, Illusion of Justice.
Kirby Anwar
Visiting Associate Professor of Law
Co-Director, Human Rights & Gender Justice Clinic
“CUNY Law’s mission is more vital than ever. I’m excited to help CUNY students deepen their skills in social justice lawyering through direct engagement in campaigns to address rights violations using the international human rights law framework.”
Professor Kirby Anwar (she/her) joins CUNY Law as a Visiting Associate Professor of Law, bringing invaluable expertise in human rights advocacy for marginalized communities. Her work centers on providing technical support for women and LGBTIQ+ advocates seeking meaningful participation and justice in peacebuilding and peace negotiations, with particular focus on communities facing multifaceted harms, including racism and discrimination based on, for example, gender, ethnicity, disability, economic deprivation and nationality.
Professor Anwar has collaborated with grassroots women’s organizations across multiple continents living in contexts of armed conflict, facilitating their social change goals through legal advocacy at international, regional, and local levels. Her scholarship addresses critical issues including women human rights defenders’ protection needs, violence based on gender, race and ethnicity in situations of conflict and disaster, and gender justice under international criminal and human rights law. She has provided technical expertise to Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace regarding crimes based on gender and ethnicity, and co-authored reports on gender persecution in Afghanistan for advocates and judicial actors.
Her commitment to grassroots organizing includes work volunteering as a human rights observer internationally. She organized with communities in the United States for racial, economic, environmental, and gender justice before becoming a lawyer.
Ally Coll
Associate Professor of Law
Faculty Affiliate, CUNY Institute on Gender, Law & Transformative Peace
“Lawyering well in this moment requires us to envision a legal system that transcends the current status quo. When I find myself disillusioned about the direction of our country, I need only step into my classroom at CUNY Law. Our students are not only imagining a better world—they are committed to learning the doctrine and developing the practical skills needed to build it.”
Professor Alexandra R. Coll (“Ally”) (she/her) joins CUNY Law as an Associate Professor. Professor Coll is nationally recognized for her expertise in gender equality, civil rights, and constitutional law. She teaches courses about the modern administrative state, the federal courts system, and civil liability for personal and institutional wrongdoing, with her writing featured in outlets including The Washington Post, Fortune, PBS NewsHour, and Bloomberg Law. At CUNY, Professor Coll is a faculty affiliate of the Institute on Gender, Law, and Transformative Peace.
In 2018, Professor Coll co-founded the Purple Campaign, a non-profit organization addressing workplace sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo movement. For over five years, she led the organization’s legal and policy efforts to strengthen corporate policies, improve laws, and empower individuals to drive workplace change. Her advocacy included leading an amicus brief on behalf of 45 public interest and civil rights organizations in Caryn Strickland v. U.S., resulting in a landmark Fourth Circuit ruling recognizing constitutional equal protection rights for federal judiciary employees.
Prior to her advocacy work, Professor Coll served as a litigator at Boies Schiller Flexner and as Elections Counsel on the U.S. House Committee on Administration, where she advised on campaign finance reform, federal ethics, and voting rights implementation.
Christian M. De Vos
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Equality & Justice In-House & Practice Clinic
“Having engaged in human rights documentation, research, and advocacy for over 15 years in both the United States and globally, I am excited to help teach and mentor the next generation of rights advocates. And given its longstanding commitment to public service and social justice, I can’t imagine a better place than CUNY Law to do so. I look forward to bringing theory and practice together for my students to ensure they are as equipped as possible for the challenges that lie ahead.”
Professor Christian M. DeVos (he/him) joins CUNY Law as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law with extensive experience in international human rights law and strategic litigation. Before teaching in the Law School’s Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic, he was the Research and Investigations Director at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), where he managed research initiatives and rapid response efforts, including documenting attacks on health in Ukraine and investigating harmful impacts of post-Roe abortion bans.
Professor De Vos spent over a decade with the Open Society Justice Initiative, advancing human rights through legal advocacy, research, and strategic litigation. He led project teams strengthening regional human rights systems in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, the UN Treaty Body system, and the International Criminal Court, including successful challenges to Trump administration sanctions on the ICC Prosecutor. His scholarship spans international human rights law, international criminal law, evidence and fact-finding, and domestic human rights implementation.
A member of the New York Bar with a JD from American University and PhD from the University of Leiden, Professor De Vos’s book Complementarity, Catalysts, Compliance: The International Criminal Court in Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo won the International Law Association’s American Branch 2021 “Book of the Year” Award.
Marie Mark
Assistant Professor of Law
Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic
“For over a decade I’ve advocated for immigrants accused and convicted of crimes, upholding their inherent worth and right to dignity. The criminal and immigration legal systems inflict profound harms on New Yorkers of color and the current moment of immigrant demonization poses grave risks to the rights of all of us. Lawyers have an important role to play defending our community and co-creating a vision for a fairer world. I am excited to be able to work with and contribute to the development of CUNY Law students, who represent the future of the fight for justice.”
Professor Marie Mark (she/her) joins CUNY Law as an Assistant Professor teaching in the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic. Professor Mark has crucial expertise defending immigrants of color who are disproportionately targeted by intertwined criminal and immigration policing systems. Her scholarship and practice focus on advocating for systemic changes to state and federal laws and policies that harm poor immigrants and immigrants of color.
Professor Mark began her legal career as an immigration attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services, working collaboratively with criminal defense attorneys to represent immigrants accused of crimes. She navigated plea negotiations, advocated for immigrant access to alternatives to incarceration, and addressed custody issues specific to immigrants facing local collusion with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She also represented clients in immigration court, arguing against deportation for people fearing persecution, vulnerable children eligible for humanitarian status, and longtime lawful residents.
As Executive Director of the Immigrant Defense Project (IDP), a national nonprofit advocating for immigrants of color targeted for arrest and deportation, Professor Mark led a multipronged strategy including impact litigation, direct technical assistance, policy advocacy, and strategic communications to combat racist criminal and immigration legal systems.
Zal Shroff
Assistant Professor of Law
Director of the Equality & Justice In-House & Practice Clinic
“I am here to teach at CUNY because our students are passionate about joining the fight for social justice—and understand that they can develop the skills, the experience, and the perspective they need to wield the law as a tool of power on behalf of those who need it most. That is what our clinical programs are here to teach—and what our students can walk away with after graduation as social justice lawyers in their own right.”
Professor Zal K. Shroff (he/him) joins CUNY Law as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Equality & Justice In-House & Practice Clinic. Professor Shroff is a civil rights lawyer who has served as lead attorney in more than two dozen impact cases across the United States. His work spans police and prosecutorial accountability, voting rights, First Amendment protest rights, race and religious discrimination, conditions of confinement, and poverty discrimination—with a focus on designing complex federal and state court challenges to advance legislative and grassroots advocacy campaigns.
Before joining CUNY, Professor Shroff served as Acting Legal Director and Senior Attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, where he litigated impact cases, spearheaded advocacy campaigns, and supervised program staff working on economic and racial justice. His significant victories include Debt Collective v. Judicial Council of California, a case that eliminated hundreds of millions in illegal court fees targeted at low-income Californians, and Coalition on Homelessness v. San Francisco, which made it illegal for California cities to summarily tow and sell vehicles due to unpaid parking tickets.
Professor Shroff’s prior experience as a Clinical Lecturer at Yale Law School, staff attorney at the ACLU of Kansas, and as the Clifford Chance Foundation Fellow at the Vera Institute demonstrates his commitment to combining rigorous legal education with frontline advocacy.
Kia Vernon
Professor of Law
“CUNY School of Law’s mission to train lawyers in the service of human needs resonates deeply with both my professional values and lived experience. “CUNY Law’s dedication to public interest law, community engagement, equality, and dismantling structural injustice aligns with my vision for legal education as a tool for systemic change. I am excited by the opportunity to collaborate with a community that is unapologetically mission-driven and to contribute to shaping the next generation of justice-centered lawyers.”
Professor Kia Vernon (she/her) joins CUNY Law as a Professor of Law. Professor Vernon has more than two decades of experience as a lawyer, educator, and administrator deeply committed to fostering inclusive learning environments and mentoring future lawyers. Her extensive teaching portfolio spans doctrinal and skills-based courses including Contracts, Family Law, Reproductive Rights, as well as Academic and Bar Support.
Throughout her career at North Carolina Central School of Law, Professor Vernon held multiple leadership roles including Director of Academic Excellence, Associate Dean of Academic Success, and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. In these positions, she led initiatives to enhance academic programming, revise curricula, and expand student support services, playing a pivotal role in creating and growing academic success programs that center student belonging, equity, and achievement.
Professor Vernon’s scholarship focuses on law student success with particular emphasis on equity in access and outcomes. She co-authored Investing in Your Success: A Practical Guide to Achieving Your Best Results in Your First Year of Law School to support students, particularly those from historically and structurally underrepresented backgrounds, throughout law school.