David S. Udell

David S. Udell

Director, Justice Program

As Director of the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, David Udell guides the Brennan Center's Access to Justice Project and Liberty & National Security Project, overseeing a broad array of litigation, research and public advocacy initiatives. Mr. Udell is a nationally recognized leader of the civil right to counsel movement, and is counsel in the Brennan Center's lawsuits challenging federal legal services funding restrictions. Prior to joining Brennan, Mr. Udell was a Senior Attorney at Legal Services for the Elderly, helping to coordinate advocacy in New York and nationally. As a legal services lawyer, he brought a series of class actions challenging the racial bias of a Social Security administrative law judge, the categorical denial of Social Security disability benefits to people suffering from heart disease, and, the systematic refusal of the U.S. Treasury to promptly replace stolen Social Security payments. He was also a managing attorney of MFY Legal Services' Disability Project, and a staff attorney on MFY's Mental Health Law Project and on its Disability Project. Mr. Udell has taught as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and at Fordham Law School, and has served on the Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board to the Justice Center of the New York County Lawyers' Association. He earned his J.D. from NYU Law School (1982) and his B.A. from Brandeis University (1979).

 

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