Barbara Ellen Handschu (born June 28, 1942) is an American political activist and lawyer, whose surname was memorialized on a set of federal guidelines "[ordering] restrictions on police surveillance ... signed by the city [of New York] in 1985", which became known as the Handschu decree.[1][2]

Early life and education

Handschu completed her undergraduate studies at New York University. She later earned her law degree at the University of Michigan Law School in 1963.[1] She began her career as a law secretary to Justice Hilda Schwartz until her 1969 arrest at a squatters' demonstration in Manhattan caused her to switch careers to criminal defense lawyer.[1][3]

Career

Handschu was an activist lawyer, representing, among others, the Young Lords of Spanish Harlem (to one of whom, Robert Lemus, she was briefly married), the Black Panthers, the Chicago Seven and participants in the Attica Prison riots.

She had been a resident of Buffalo, New York, and now is exclusively practicing matrimonial and custody law in New York City; she no longer practices criminal law. She was the first female president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. As of 2016, she worked in New York as a divorce attorney.[4]

Handschu has appeared in court multiple times regarding the original lawsuit filed against the New York Police Department in 1971 (over how the department spied on protestors during the Vietnam War era),[5] including in 2013, when the department came under scrutiny for targeting Muslim communities following a rollback of the Handschu guidelines by a judge in 2003.[5][6]

Personal life

Handschu lives in Manhattan, returning to the city in 2013 after living in Buffalo for decades.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Finn, Robin (2007-02-23). "Making Police Obey the Rules That Bear Her Name". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  2. ↑ Katz, Matt (2021-09-07). "NYPD's Legacy Of Police Surveillance, From Black Panthers To Mosques To Black Lives Matter". Gothamist. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  3. ↑ "Barbara E. Handschu". Dobrish Michaels Gross LLP. Archived from the original on 2015-06-01.
  4. 1 2 "For NY lawyer, a 45-year-old surveillance case is her legacy". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  5. 1 2 York, Associated Press in New (2013-08-28). "NYPD secretly labels mosques as terror groups and spies on them". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  6. ↑ "Lawyers want judge to stop NYPD monitoring of Muslims". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
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