Wang Hecker LLP

Wang Hecker LLP We are one of the nation’s premier civil rights litigation boutiques.

Firm Sues New York City for Transgender Discrimination in Homeless Shelters:Along with co-counsel Housing Works and Broo...
01/15/2026

Firm Sues New York City for Transgender Discrimination in Homeless Shelters:

Along with co-counsel Housing Works and Brooklyn Legal Services, we have sued New York City under the City’s Human Rights Law for discriminating against Jane Doe, a transgendered woman, who was repeatedly misgendered, assigned to room with cis gender male individuals, and s*xually assaulted in multiple shelters within the City’s shelter system.

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/firm-sues-new-york-city-for-transgender-discrimination-in-homeless-shelters/

Wang Hecker LLP is one of the nation’s premier civil rights litigation boutiques, pursuing justice for our clients again...
11/26/2025

Wang Hecker LLP is one of the nation’s premier civil rights litigation boutiques, pursuing justice for our clients against institutions, governments, and powerful individuals.

WangHecker.com

Firm Sues to Prevent Dutchess County From Furthering Racial Segregation With Shelter Placement:On behalf of the City of ...
09/26/2025

Firm Sues to Prevent Dutchess County From Furthering Racial Segregation With Shelter Placement:

On behalf of the City of Poughkeepsie and two Black women who live there, Wang Hecker LLP filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Dutchess County and County Executive Sue Serino. The legal action follows the County’s abrupt withdrawal from a joint plan to combat homelessness, at which time the County unilaterally imposed the requirement that an emergency shelter be placed at 26 Oakley Street in the Fifth Ward. For decades, the City of Poughkeepsie has been targeted with policies and practices that have resulted in harmful, extensive racial segregation. and the City continues to undertake a disproportionate responsibility for hosting shelters and social services within County. This lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop Dutchess County from proceeding with its plan to unilaterally place the emergency shelter at 26 Oakley Street, which would violate federal and state fair housing laws by furthering racial segregation and discriminating against residents of the City.

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/firm-sues-to-prevent-dutchess-county-from-furthering-racial-segregation-with-shelter-placement/

Wang Hecker LLP is proud to announce that Heather Gregorio has become a Partner and that Lily Sawyer-Kaplan, Maggie Hadl...
09/10/2025

Wang Hecker LLP is proud to announce that Heather Gregorio has become a Partner and that Lily Sawyer-Kaplan, Maggie Hadley, and Jahne Brown are joining the firm as Associates …

Heather Gregorio’s sharp intellect, commitment to justice, and empathy for clients have made her an outstanding advocate and colleague since she joined the firm in 2017. Heather has a diverse civil rights litigation practice and extensive experience handling cases involving s*xual assault and abuse, housing discrimination, employment discrimination and retaliation, and police misconduct and prisoner abuse. Most recently, she has served as lead counsel in Barco Mercado v. Noem et al. (S.D.N.Y.), obtaining a temporary restraining order requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to make substantial improvements to its treatment of individuals being detained by ICE at 26 Federal Plaza. Heather joined the firm following her clerkships for Judges Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Pamela K. Chen of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She is a 2015 magna cm laude graduate of the New York University School of Law, where she was a Notes Editor on the NYU Law Review and the recipient of numerous distinctions and awards.

Lily Sawyer-Kaplan is a 2022 summa cm laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where she was Order of the Coif, an Online Editor on the Michigan Law Review, and a Clarence Darrow Scholar. She clerked for Judge William A. Fletcher on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Amit P. Mehta on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She previously worked as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. Lily joined the firm this summer.

Maggie Hadley will be joining the firm as an associate later this month. She is a 2022 graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent Scholar, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a Hamilton Fellow. She clerked for Judge Ronald Lee Gilman on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Gregory H. Woods on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She previously was a Herbert & Nell Singer Social Justice Fellow at the Legal Aid Society.

Jahne Brown will be joining the firm as a Justice Catalyst Fellow later this month. She is a 2025 graduate of the New York University School of law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar and an Executive Editor on the NYU Law Review. Her admission to the New York Bar is pending. Following her fellowship with the firm, she will clerk for Judge Victor Bolden of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.

https://www.wanghecker.com/

Firm Wins TRO Against ICE:Four days after Wang Hecker LLP and our co-counsel, the ACLU, NYCLU and Make the Road New York...
08/21/2025

Firm Wins TRO Against ICE:

Four days after Wang Hecker LLP and our co-counsel, the ACLU, NYCLU and Make the Road New York, filed a lawsuit challenging inhumane and unconstitutional conditions at ICE’s 26 Federal Plaza detention facility, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, ordered the government to immediately provide confidential attorney access to detained individuals, severely limit the permitted population of the rooms at the facility, provide basic necessities such as sleeping mats and hygiene products, and to otherwise remedy unsanitary conditions at 26 Fed.

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/firm-wins-tro-against-ice/

Systemic Challenge to Unlawful ICE Detentions at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan:Wang Hecker LLP, with co-counsel the Amer...
08/12/2025

Systemic Challenge to Unlawful ICE Detentions at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan:

Wang Hecker LLP, with co-counsel the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation, and Make the Road New York, filed a lawsuit on behalf of an individual detained at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan (“26 Fed”) and a proposed class of thousands of individuals detained there for days without beds to sleep on, adequate meals, the ability to bathe, or access to counsel. The lawsuit asserts a constitutional challenge to the horrific and unlawful conditions in which ICE is detaining individuals at 26 Fed and seeks an emergency temporary restraining order to prohibit the government from continuing these practices.

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/systemic-challenge-to-unlawful-ice-detentions-at-26-federal-plaza-in-manhattan/

Wang Hecker LLP is one of the nation’s premier civil rights litigation boutiques, pursuing justice for our clients again...
07/31/2025

Wang Hecker LLP is one of the nation’s premier civil rights litigation boutiques, pursuing justice for our clients against institutions, governments, and powerful individuals.

WangHecker.com

Survivors Secure Landmark Settlement Against NYPD:On behalf of Plaintiffs Jennifer Welch Demski and Alison Turkos, Wang ...
06/20/2025

Survivors Secure Landmark Settlement Against NYPD:

On behalf of Plaintiffs Jennifer Welch Demski and Alison Turkos, Wang Hecker LLP obtained extensive injunctive relief and $1.025 million against the City of New York and the NYPD. The lawsuit asserted s*x discrimination claims under the NYC Human Rights Law for the discriminatory provision of investigative services by the Special Victims Division (“SVD”) to victims of s*xual assault, who are 90% female. The settlement imposes significant requirements on the SVD, including by instituting specific service and training requirements as well as caseload limits for SVD investigators, ensuring a permanent staff member oversee training of all SVD investigators, and continuing bi-annual substantive review of sample cases by survivor advocates …

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/survivors-secure-landmark-settlement-against-nypd/

Retaliatory Lawsuit Dismissed with Sanctions Imposed:Wang Hecker LLP successfully achieved the dismissal of a retaliator...
06/13/2025

Retaliatory Lawsuit Dismissed with Sanctions Imposed:

Wang Hecker LLP successfully achieved the dismissal of a retaliatory lawsuit filed by Sean Combs’ former security guard Joseph Sherman against our client – whose underlying lawsuit against Combs and Sherman for s*xually assaulting her years earlier is ongoing – and against our co-counsel in that case, Gloria Allred. The judge called Sherman’s claims “patently frivolous” and imposed sanctions on Sherman’s lawyer for having filed the case.

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/retaliatory-lawsuit-dismissed-with-sanctions-imposed/

Red Light Cycling Class Action:On behalf of an individual cyclist and others similarly situated, Wang Hecker LLP recentl...
05/13/2025

Red Light Cycling Class Action:

On behalf of an individual cyclist and others similarly situated, Wang Hecker LLP recently filed a class action lawsuit against the City for the unlawful ticketing of cyclists who lawfully proceed with the “walk” sign through an intersection …

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/red-light-cycling-class-action/

$25M Judgment for Child S*x Abuse Victim Upheld in Landmark Bankruptcy Ruling:Wang Hecker LLP recently obtained a $25 mi...
05/13/2025

$25M Judgment for Child S*x Abuse Victim Upheld in Landmark Bankruptcy Ruling:

Wang Hecker LLP recently obtained a $25 million judgment on behalf of a woman who was s*xually abused by her brother decades earlier under New York’s Child Victim’s Act. Subsequently, in defending against the defendant’s efforts to nullify the judgment in bankruptcy court, the firm achieved a landmark victory when the Bankruptcy Court held that the “domestic violence” exception to the bankruptcy stay applied to s*xual violence that occurred years earlier …

https://www.wanghecker.com/in-the-media/25m-judgment-for-child-s*x-abuse-victim-upheld-in-landmark-bankruptcy-ruling/

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