Our mission is CLEAR
The Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project’s mandate is to support Muslim and all other client, communities, and movements in the New York City area and beyond that are targeted by local, state, or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism.
Our work is defined by our relationships with communities and movements whose members wish to transform or abolish the law enforcement policies and practices affecting them. CLEAR’s community-oriented and movement-building approach combines free legal representation with other services directed at satisfying the fuller range of client, community, and movement concerns.
CLEAR provides three primary services free of charge: legal representation and consultation; know-your-rights workshops; and support for community organizing and social movements.
CLEAR is the only organization that systematically provides this range of support and services free of charge. CLEAR is housed at Main Street Legal Services, Inc., the clinical arm of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law.
Our Team
CLEAR was launched in 2009 as a cross-clinical collaboration between the Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic and the Criminal Defense Clinic at CUNY School of Law. CLEAR has since expanded and is now staffed by law students from multiple clinics at Main Street Legal Services, working under the supervision of CLEAR’s dedicated law faculty and staff attorneys.
Faculty & Attorneys
RAMZI KASSEM
Founding Director
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NAZ AHMAD
Senior Staff Attorney
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PRINCESS MASILUNGAN
Staff Attorney
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MUDASSAR TOPPA
Justice Catalyst Fellow
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TAREK Z. ISMAIL
Of Counsel
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NERMEEN ARASTU
Of Counsel
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Law Students
CLEAR 2019:
Rachna Agarwal, Andrea Alajbegovic, Anna Andel, Brittany Ashton, Sarah Attridge, Katherine Azcona, Gregg Butler, Karleene Diaz, Rachel Goodman, Souad Haddara, Mirna Haidar, Mary (Cassie) Hazelip, Myriah Heddens, Wendy Jennings, Rose-Emma Lunderman, Molly Medhurst, Maria Marroquin, Simone Noonan, Ismaail Qaiyim, Angelica Razack, Katie Roussos, Mahum Shabir, Quiniva Smith, Melissa Smyth, Nishat (Bella) Tabassum, Mudassar Toppa, Hannah Walsh, Ayah Zaki
CLEAR 2019:
Rachna Agarwal, Andrea Alajbegovic, Anna Andel, Brittany Ashton, Sarah Attridge, Katherine Azcona, Gregg Butler, Karleene Diaz, Rachel Goodman, Souad Haddara, Mirna Haidar, Mary (Cassie) Hazelip, Myriah Heddens, Wendy Jennings, Rose-Emma Lunderman, Molly Medhurst, Maria Marroquin, Simone Noonan, Ismaail Qaiyim, Angelica Razack, Katie Roussos, Mahum Shabir, Quiniva Smith, Melissa Smyth, Nishat (Bella) Tabassum, Mudassar Toppa, Hannah Walsh, Ayah Zaki