NYU School of Law has named Lisa Hoyes ’99 the new assistant dean for public service.
Hoyes will join the Law School on August 17 from Federal Defenders of New York, where she has served since 2009 as an attorney handling a wide range of federal cases, including terrorism, narcotics, weapons, immigration, and securities fraud. As the Federal Defender liaison to two innovative court diversion programs, Hoyes worked alongside the judges of the Eastern District of New York in implementing and expanding the programs, one for younger offenders and one for defendants struggling with substance abuse. Previously Hoyes spent nearly a decade as a staff attorney at the Bronx Defenders, advocating for thousands of indigent clients. She took a leave of absence in 2004 to serve as an NYU Law Fellow at the Equal Justice Initiative, working with Professor of Clinical Law Bryan Stevenson to represent death row inmates and other offenders facing life sentences under three-strikes laws. Hoyes later returned to the Bronx Defenders as a supervising attorney and trained entry-level defenders.
“I am delighted to see Lisa return to NYU Law in this exciting new chapter in her outstanding career as a public interest lawyer. I have seen the great work she did at Legal Aid, the Door, Bronx Defenders, EJI, and the Federal Defenders,” said Randy Hertz, director of clinical and advocacy programs and professor of clinical law. Hertz served on the panel that awarded Hoyes a Sinsheimer Public Interest Scholarship (through which she participated in the RTK program) upon her start of law school and also taught Hoyes in the Juvenile Rights Clinic.
“Lisa is a perfect illustration of the amazing work our students do after participating in the Law School’s public interest and clinical programs, and she is a perfect choice for leading our public interest program and mentoring future generations of our graduates who will work in public service, or pro bono in the private sector,” added Hertz.
After graduating from NYU Law, Hoyes won a Soros Justice Postgraduate Fellowship to undertake a project she designed to provide civil legal services to juveniles involved in delinquency proceedings and the criminal justice system. For two years, she provided immigration, housing, family law, and benefits representation to juveniles under the auspices of Legal Aid’s Juvenile Rights Division and The Door’s Legal Services Center.
While a student at the Law School, Hoyes was an active member of the Black Allied Law Students Association and associate editor of NYU Law Review. A life-long New Yorker, Hoyes received a BA in language and culture from SUNY-Purchase.
Posted July 22, 2015