Deborah Lolai

Deborah Lolai is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Director of the LGBTQ+ Litigation Clinic at Fordham Law School. Professor Lolai works with clinical students to represent the most marginalized members of the LGBTQ+ community across the country, with a focus on those experiencing criminalization and incarceration. Professor Lolai is recognized nationally as a leading authority on the representation of LGBTQ+ individuals in criminal cases and in advancing reforms to improve conditions of confinement in jails and prisons for TGNCNBI (Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, Non-Binary, and Intersex) populations. Their research examines the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people and the impact of the carceral state on LGBTQ+ communities. Their scholarship is published or forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality.

Prior to joining the Fordham Law School faculty, Professor Lolai was a Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law in the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic at Harvard Law School, where they directed the clinical docket, and taught the clinical seminar and an additional seminar, LGBTQ Criminalization and Mass Incarceration. Professor Lolai served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, where they taught various courses on advocacy, contemporary social issues, and LGBTQ+ communities. Prior to joining the legal academy, Professor Lolai served for nearly a decade as a public defender at The Bronx Defenders. As Founding Director of the Bronx Defenders’ LGBTQ Defense Project—the first initiative of its kind within a public defense organization nationwide—they led efforts in direct legal advocacy for LGBTQ+ clients, advanced policy reforms addressing the criminalization of LGBTQ+ communities, and provided training and technical assistance to both institutions and legal professionals. In 2019, Professor Lolai was appointed to the NYC Board of Correction Task Force on Issues Faced by TGNCNBI People in Custody, co-authoring the Task Force’s first report. Professor Lolai was also appointed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Transition Committee on the Criminal Legal System.

Professor Lolai’s professional contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, such as the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 Award, the Community Excellence Award from the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York, the New York State Bar Association’s Award for Outstanding Achievements in Promoting Standards of Excellence in Mandated Representation, and the New York Law Journal’s Trailblazers Award.

Professor Lolai is a graduate of CUNY Queens College and received their JD from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, where upon graduation, they were awarded the Peter Davis Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice, the Ronni D. Cohen Class Orator Award, the Dan and Rose Subotnik Award for the Best Paper by a Graduating Student, the Brian Lord Award for Public Interest Law, the Exemplary Contributions to the Quality of Student Life Award, the Michael Aron Silver Award for Promotion of Tolerance, Diversity, and Harmony, the Special Faculty Appreciation Award in Recognition of Outstanding Service to Touro Law Center, and the Touro Law Pro Bono Service Award.

Hate Crime or Bullying? The High Cost of Framing Harm Among Youth, 113 Va. L. Rev. __ (with Emily Maurin-Waters) (forthcoming 2027).

Transgender Decarceration Guide: Representing Gender Expansive People in Federal Criminal and Post-Conviction Cases (Harvard Law Sch. LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic) (with Yoo et al) (2026). 

Out of the Closet, In on Bail, 61.1 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 126 (2026).

First Report of the Task Force on Issues Faced by TGNCNBI People in Custody (N.Y.C. Bd. of Corr.) (with McGovern et al) (2022).

“You're Going to Be Straight or You're Not Going to Live Here”: Child Support for LGBT Homeless Youth, 24 Tul. J. L. & Sexuality 35 (2015).