Lambda Legal Announces Richard Saenz as Staff Attorney in National Headquarters

(New York, March 15, 2016) — Today, Lambda Legal announced that Richard Saenz, one of its former Legal Help Desk Specialists, has returned as a staff attorney in its national headquarters in New York. In addition to serving the needs of those in the Eastern seaboard states, Saenz will be Lambda Legal’s program strategist on criminal justice and police misconduct issues.

“We are very pleased to welcome Richard back to Lambda Legal and look forward to the exciting work ahead,” said Jon W. Davidson, Legal Director and Eden/Rushing Chair at Lambda Legal. “Richard has impressive legal experience and a powerful commitment to advocacy for LGBT people and those living with HIV, especially members of our community who are low-income, immigrants, and/or people of color. We are fortunate to have such a talented lawyer and civil rights advocate joining our team to continue his work on behalf of our community’s most vulnerable.”

"I’m thrilled to be coming back home to Lambda Legal, an organization that has been such a crucial part of my foundation as a legal advocate on behalf of LGBT people and those living with HIV. As a gay Latino, I am especially excited by the prospect of continuing on a national level with Lambda Legal my advocacy on issues of racism, poverty and criminal justice that are disproportionately impacting LGBT people and people living with HIV,” Saenz said.  “These are critical times in which we must be even more vigilant in upholding Lambda Legal’s commitment to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of all of our community.”

Since Saenz’s departure from Lambda Legal in 2007, Saenz received his JD from Fordham University School of Law where he was a Stein Scholar for Public Interest Law and Ethics.  He went on to establish the HIV/LGBT Advocacy Project at Queens Legal Services, Legal Services-NYC, to serve low-income LGBT and HIV-affected New Yorkers. 

Saenz received a Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 award from the National LGBT Bar Association and the Community Leadership Award from Queens Pride House in 2013. He has more than a decade of experience in community organizing and education on HIV, LGBT, anti-violence and anti-poverty issues.