Susan Sommer.

Susan Sommer's 17 years at Lambda Legal saw her at the fore of the LGBT community's defining civil rights legal battles. From fighting to end sodomy laws, to her work in the run-up to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges, Sommer has been “a giant in LGBT rights, full-stop,” according to Rachel B. Tiven, CEO of Lambda Legal.

“She's been one of our leading lawyers from essentially the moment she arrived,” Tiven said. “She has, in that regard contributed to Lambda's accomplishments across the board.”

Now, Sommer is set to parlay her experience as a leading civil rights lawyer into her new role as general counsel for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's Office of Criminal Justice.

“Susan is a brilliant and accomplished lawyer with a record of victories for fairness and justice,” Elizabeth Glazer, MOCJ's director, said in a statement. “She will be a key member of the leadership team, developing and implementing strategies to make New York the fairest and safest city in the country.”

Sommer told the New York Law Journal that in the wake of the LGBT civil rights milestones that she helped usher in, she felt restless and was ready for a new challenge. Criminal justice reforms, arguably like the LGBT battles of the decade before, are the “burning issue of the day, the civil rights issue of our time,” Sommer said.

The opportunity to move into government under a “motivated political leader” in de Blasio and a “dynamic, creative, smart-as-can-be person” in Glazer in the state and city that has been so much the focus of her professional efforts provided a unique opportunity, she said.

“New York has always been a particularly important place for me, professionally and personally,” Sommer said. “Over the years, people would ask in different context, 'How do you identify?'—working in the LGBT rights movement. I often wanted to say, high on the list, I identify as a New Yorker.”

Members of the civil rights bar said the city will be well-served having Sommer join its ranks. Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady name attorney Andrew Celli congratulated the mayor and MOCJ on “an inspired choice.”

“Susan will be superb in this role. She brings great judgment and breadth of experience to the job in a time of change for the city's criminal justice system,” said Celli in a statement. “She is a super smart lawyer who has spent her career reforming institutions and focusing on people.”

Sommer departs the bar as a private litigator coming off only the latest significant win for LGBT rights. The rights of same-sex parents and their children has been an area of particular focus for Sommer. Just last year, the long battle in New York to overcome precedent that denied rights to nonbiological gay and lesbian parents ended with the August 2016 decision by the New York Court of Appeals in In the Matter of Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C.

The ruling established the rights of even nonbiological, non-adoptive parents to the same rights as heterosexual parents, overturning the 25-year-old ruling by the court in In the Matter of Alison D. v. Virginia M. Sommer represented Brooke S.B. in the case. It was a fitting end to the legal work spearheaded by Sommer to win recognition of basic rights for LGBT individuals and couples throughout her career, according to Lambda's Tiven.

“We miss her, but we are very proud,” she said. “To see that, in the years since she came to Lambda, to see the growth and success of the constitutional law that we have pioneered come into the mainstream, and to see the people who built it here, to see them take that skill and that talent into other areas of civil law is really thrilling.”

Criminal justice issues have long been a critical component to the LGBT civil rights work she's done, Sommer said. The transition to government to focus on these issues is partly an outgrowth of the work she's already deeply versed in.

“We, in my past career, both pushed governments, and worked with government, and often served the function of analyzing law, analyzing policy, bringing the stories and experiences of real people to bear, considering what all the different stakeholders might feel about an issue and trying to come up with a solution with something that would work for everyone,” she said. “In some ways I think that is exactly what MOCJ does and is about.”

Sommer also said she expects there will be “a lot of new” for her in this role. The MOCJ has operated as a hub for working with criminal justice partners to roll out and implement new initiatives aimed at reshaping the criminal justice system in New York City. The office has taken the lead in changes such as criminal summons reform, new bail reforms that the city says will keep 2,000 low-risk people out of jail each year, and mental health-focused programming to address issues that too often lead to incarceration of the mentally ill.

While Sommer doesn't start until the middle of January, she said she anticipates the MOCJ's biggest task to date—the close of the Rikers Island jail complex—will require a substantial amount of her focus, as well as the day-to-day responsibilities and demands of a general counsel to a city agency.

“I'm really excited for this change,” Sommer said. “All I can say is, how lucky am I to have gone from one incredibly exciting phase of a career to this next one.”