Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Queens courts, rocked by theft scandal, get new public defender group
By
Samantha Max
Published Jul 1, 2025
Modified Jul 2, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Gorodenkoff/Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
Published Jul 1, 2025
Modified Jul 2, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Many low-income criminal defendants in Queens who need a free attorney will now be represented by a public defender organization based in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Defender Services on Tuesday took over a $34 million contract with the city to provide criminal defense in Queens. The change follows a period of disarray at Queens Defenders during which the organization’s founder and executive director, Lori Zeno, became a defendant herself.
In January, the board placed Zeno on leave and banned her from the property, the Queens Daily Eagle reported at the time. Last month, a federal grand jury indicted Zeno and her husband, Rashad Ruhani, on charges of wire fraud, theft and money laundering conspiracy. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“After 29 years of experience and expertise serving Brooklyn, we are proud to bring the same dedication and excellence to Queens residents,” said Lisa Schreibersdorf, executive director and founder of Brooklyn Defender Services. “We will continue in our mission to provide outstanding representation and advocacy free of cost to people facing loss of freedom, family separation and other serious legal harms.”
New York City contracts with a patchwork of nonprofit legal services groups to provide representation for low-income New Yorkers in criminal, family, housing and immigration courts. The Legal Aid Society is the largest public defender organization and operates throughout the city. For nearly three decades, each of the five boroughs has also had at least one additional public defender organization to share the caseload. Various other organizations provide more specialized legal services, including for housing and child custody proceedings.
Queens Defenders was established in 1996, and since then has represented hundreds of thousands of people who couldn’t afford a private attorney, according to its website. Brooklyn Defender Services is hiring Queens Defenders’ entire staff and taking on its existing cases.
Brooklyn Defender Services said it will handle about 16,000 new cases in Queens’ criminal and family courts each year. The organization will also offer its Queens clients help with housing, government benefits, immigration and child services investigations, Schreibersdorf said.
According to prosecutors, Zeno and her husband stole at least $60,000 from Queens Defenders and spent the money on a vacation to Bali, expensive meals, an 85-inch smart TV, luxury clothing and teeth whitening treatments.
Tax records show Zeno was the highest paid executive at any of the city’s major public defender organizations in 2023, even though other groups have larger caseloads. Her salary was more than $430,000 that year, while Queens Defenders’ costs exceeded their revenue by more than $415,000, according to tax filings.
Brooklyn Defender Services assumes its new role in Queens as several legal services groups are considering a work stoppage. Attorneys at the Legal Aid Society voted to authorize a strike as the group negotiates with management for higher pay and more flexibility for remote work. At least two other legal services groups — the Goddard Riverside Law Project and the Office of the Appellate Defender — have also voted to strike if they can’t reach a deal with management.
Brooklyn Defender Services, Queens Defenders and several other public defender organizations in New York City were established after the Legal Aid Society’s last strike in the mid-1990s, when then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani threatened to stop contracting with the nonprofit and invited new groups to work with the city.
Andrew Eichen, chair of the Brooklyn Defenders union chapter, said in a statement that the union played no role in the organization’s takeover of Queens Defenders’ contract.
“However, we look forward to the greater Brooklyn Defenders Union representing all workers in both shops, and we hope that our combined efforts obtain a fair contract for all members as we bargain over the next year,” he said.
This story was updated with additional comment.
Tagged
public defender
public safety
queens
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .