Laura D. Barbieri, Esq.

Founder and Managing Partner, The Law Office of Laura D. Barbieri, PLLC | Senior Counsel, The Law Office of Elisa Hyman, P.C. | Former Special Counsel, Advocates for Justice

Laura D. Barbieri is a respected litigator with over four decades of legal experience, focusing on civil rights, special education law, and employment and disabilities law. As Managing Partner of The Law Office of Laura D. Barbieri, PLLC, and Senior Counsel at The Law Office of Elisa Hyman, P.C., she is a passionate advocate for children with special needs in a variety of legal contexts. Her influential role as Special Counsel at Advocates for Justice has notably advanced educational equity and social justice in a spectrum of matters, including her advocacy for 9/11 survivors under the Zadroga Act.

Laura has a robust record in employment litigation, serving as outside counsel to the Transport Workers Union, Local 100 and Columbia University, and has successfully advocated for families and special needs children in significant legal actions against large educational institutions.

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Her expertise also covers representing educational and religious organizations, advising on employment matters, property transactions, and compliance with New York’s Religious Corporations Law and Not-For-Profit Law. As an Adjunct Professor at Pace University School of Law, Laura taught subjects such as Appellate Advocacy and White Collar Crime, and was actively involved in national moot court competitions.

From 2017 to 2020, Laura chaired the Education and the Law Committee at the New York City Bar Association, leading discussions on key educational and legal reforms. She is also a certified mediator with the New York Peace Institute, skilled at facilitating dispute resolutions across New York City courts. Additionally, Laura has been an active member of the Children and the Law Committee since August 2021 and the Education and the Law Committee since 2015, focusing on civil rights and social action to advocate for a quality education and equitable legal policy initiatives and remedies on behalf of NYC children.

Laura’s public service roles include Chief of the Charities, Trusts, and Estates Bureau at the New York Attorney General’s Office, Assistant Attorney General with the Organized Crime Task Force, and Deputy Commissioner at the NYC Department of Correction. She was cross-designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for both the Northern and Eastern Districts of New York and served as Special Assistant District Attorney in multiple counties within the State of New York, handling a wide range of cases including organized crime and civil forfeiture.

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Named as one of the top social justice attorneys in 2023’s Law Power’s 100 by City & State New York, Laura is a graduate of Pace University Law School as a ranking scholar, and holds a Master’s of Arts in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University. She received a B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College in Accounting and is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School. She continues to serve as a mentor, tireless litigator, and influential figure in the legal community, providing strategic litigation advice and litigation services to New Yorker workers, parents, students, and their families.