Jessica Schafroth

Jessica Schafroth joined Malkin & Ross in 2004 and has spent two decades building one of Albany's most consequential practices representing labor unions, immigrant-rights groups, and survivor-advocacy organizations. This session, peers point to her work steering a package of reforms limiting how New York law enforcement cooperates with ICE through both chambers and to the Governor's desk — described by one nominator as "the most comprehensive immigration protection package" the state has passed. She also secured passage of the Remedial Construction of New York Labor Law Act, a measure rebuilt and passed by wide bipartisan margins after a veto the prior year.

Schafroth's client list includes the New York Civil Liberties Union, Safe Horizon, Make the Road New York, and the Survivor Justice Coalition, and her career victories span the Adult Survivors Act, the Child Victims Act, Good Cause Eviction, the Fashion Workers Act, and the $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund. Nominators — including grassroots organizers, union leaders, and fellow advocates — consistently describe her as a strategist who translates complex policy into action for the communities she represents, from undocumented workers to trafficking survivors to students fighting to keep ICE out of their schools.

"Jessica has been a powerhouse lobbyist for her clients fighting for immigrant justice in Albany this session," one nominator wrote — a reputation matched, colleagues add, by kindness and integrity in a business not known for either.