Nadia Gareeb to Lead Legal Services NYC’s Queens Program

August 28th, 2017, QUEENS, NY— Legal Services NYC is pleased to announce that Nadia Gareeb has been selected by the Legal Services NYC and Queens Legal Services (QLS) boards to lead QLS as the program’s newest Project Director.

“We are enormously pleased to welcome Nadia to Legal Services NYC’s leadership as Project Director of Queens Legal Services,” said Legal Services NYC Executive Director Raun Rasmussen. “Her extensive experience in legal services advocacy, work developing pro bono partnerships, and legislative expertise make her the perfect leader for our Queens program.”

Nadia’s public interest career spans more than twenty years, including extensive experience in civil litigation, policy advocacy, management, supervision, training and mentoring of attorneys, community outreach and public interest practice in New York and Massachusetts. Most recently, she served as Counsel for New York State Assemblymember Helene Weinstein, chair of the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, where she was engaged in legislative and public policy work in the areas of antipoverty, homeowner protections, family law, violence prevention and immigration.

Nadia’s appointment as QLS Project Director represents a homecoming, bringing her back to the same program where she served as a Family Law Staff Attorney from 1998 to 2002. Nadia’s experience also includes staff attorney positions at Her Justice, where she managed pro bono attorneys handling immigration and domestic violence matters, and at Greater Boston Legal Services, where she practiced in the Family Law and Asian Outreach units. She received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College.

“QLS has an outstanding team dedicated to seeking racial, social and economic justice for low-income residents of Queens,” said Nadia. “I am so excited and proud to return to QLS in this new position. The challenges facing the diverse communities of Queens are ever increasing. I am looking forward to working closely with community partners to ensure that we understand and meet the evolving needs of low-income Queens residents. I can think of no better time to join QLS to enhance community-informed equal access to justice for all.”

Nadia succeeds Jennifer Ching, who served as QLS Project Director from 2010 until earlier this year.

“Finding a replacement for Jennifer Ching, whose leadership of our wonderful staff built QLS into a significant force for civil legal justice in Queens County, was a challenge,” said Malvina Nathanson, Queens Legal Services Board Chair. “After considering more than a dozen candidates, the board unanimously agreed that Nadia was the ideal choice to take the office to the next level. Her breadth of experience and expertise will be invaluable to our program as we fight for Queens families and communities in these difficult times.”

Nadia will oversee the borough’s largest non-profit civil legal aid organization, and one of downtown Jamaica’s largest non-profit employers, with a staff of more than 70 attorneys, paralegals, social workers and advocates. Last year, after decades of operating out of increasingly dilapidated offices, QLS consolidated program staff into the QLS Community Law Center, Queens County’s first comprehensive civil legal aid center with a contemporary, renovated facility to host community meetings. QLS operates fifteen practices at the Center, including Immigration Advocacy, Domestic Violence & Family Law, HIV/LGBTQ Advocacy, Housing Rights, Homeowner & Consumer Rights, Fair Housing, Disability Advocacy, Public Benefits, Nutrition Education & Outreach (SNAP), Veterans Justice, Employment and Taxpayers’ Clinic. Reflecting the deep diversity of Queens, the QLS staff speak nine languages on-site and the program provides instant phone or video interpretation services for all clients.

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