Legal Services NYC Announces Appointment of Jennifer Ching to Lead Queens Legal Services

thumb_jennifer ching photoJanuary 28, 2010– Legal Services NYC is pleased to announce that Jennifer Ching has been appointed Project Director at Queens Legal Services (“QLS,” a program of Legal Services NYC).  “We are enormously pleased to welcome Jennifer to Legal Services NYC’s leadership as Project Director of Queens Legal Services,” said Legal Services NYC Executive Director and President Andrew Scherer. “Jennifer brings to the position talent, energy, a deep commitment to the communities of Queens, and broad experience in public interest advocacy. The need for legal help for New York City’s low income households and communities has been rapidly expanding due to the poor state of the economy, and Jennifer is just the right person to lead our talented Queens staff in the provision of critical civil legal services in this challenging time.”

"Our Board looked hard and worked hard to get just the right person to lead our program. We are all convinced that Jennifer is that person. Her energy and articulated commitment to measuring the success of the program by the level of service provided to our clients is refreshing and warmly welcomed," said Sandy Lane, QLS Board Chair.

“I am honored to join QLS and have been humbled by the incredible commitment and passion of the QLS staff to fight for justice on behalf of our clients every day,” said Ching. “As the new Project Director, I look forward to building the diversity, quality and reach of our programs and look forward to building new partnerships in Queens.”

Jennifer comes to QLS fresh from her position as Director of the New York office of Appleseed, a national network of public interest justice centers with a mission to leverage private sector resources to engage long term structural reform through programs expanding access to justice, education and economic opportunity. Prior to joining Appleseed, she was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York, where her pro bono work included litigation and advocacy on behalf of Guantánamo detainees.

Jennifer has also been a John J. Gibbons Fellow in Public Interest and Constitutional Law, litigating death penalty, immigrants' rights and civil rights cases, and a Skadden Fellow at the ACLU of New Jersey where she founded the Immigrant Workers' Rights Project. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

Jennifer succeeds Carl O. Callender as Project Director of Queens Legal Services.

Legal Services NYC provides free help on cases involving housing, family, domestic violence, public benefits, income tax, employment, education, consumer rights and economic development. Learn more at www.legalservicesnyc.org.

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