Jared Trujillo

Background

About Jared Trujillo

I'm an Associate Professor at CUNY School of Law, where I teach Constitutional Law, Critical Race Theory, and courses focused on the criminal legal system. I am deeply involved in advocacy at the state, local, and federal levels, particularly involving the penal system, juvenile legal system, family regulations system, and the First Amendment. I frequently write op-eds in my own name, for elected officials, and for community members, and I regularly speak with media on criminal legal system issues. My work and commentary has been featured in The Advocate, The New York Times, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, New York Daily News, and other outlets. Prior to this role, I served as Senior Policy Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union. I focused primarily on criminal and juvenile legal system reform and I drafted and reviewed legislation and regulations, lobbied multiple levels of government, testified for and against legislative efforts, spoke with media in support of legislation, provided community education, and I worked within coalitions. I have led and worked on successful campaigns to enact legislation that has made the criminal and juvenile legal systems less inequitable. Prior to these positions, I was the full-time President of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (UAW Local 2325), a union that represents approximately 2100 attorneys, social workers, paralegals and other legal workers at 17 non-profits in New York State. I led lobbying efforts at the state and local level on issues related to criminal defense, immigration, housing justice, juvenile justice, family defense, and employment. Additionally, I negotiated contracts with each organization, and campaigned for wage equity for all legal workers that serve low-income New Yorkers. Before this role, I gleaned litigation experience as a juvenile and adult defense attorney. Outside of work, I serve as a Co-Chair of the New York City Bar’s LGBTQ+ Rights Committee, and as a board member of the New York State Defender Association, the Advocacy Institute, and PODER. I also serve on the Steering Committee for Decrim NY, a coalition working to decriminalize adult consensual sex work in New York. National LGBT Bar Top 40 LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Award Recipient; City & State Labor 40 Under 40; Schnepps Media Leaders of Labor Honoree