Bios
Nida Abbasi, Coordinator, Domestic Violence Programs
As coordinator for the Center’s domestic violence programs, Nida Abbasi provides expert assistance to courts and communities seeking to enhance their approach to domestic and sexual violence. Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Abbasi worked as a civil legal aid attorney in Illinois and represented domestic violence survivors on orders of protection and family law matters. She has also worked on policy reform and gender-based violence issues in Detroit, Chicago, and Cape Town. Ms. Abbasi holds a B.A from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
Ellen C Schell
Ellen C Schell is Counsel for the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. Previously, she was Counsel to The Legal Project, and provided training and technical assistance to civilian attorneys and advocates working with military-related survivors of intimate partner violence. From 2006 – 2009, Ellen was an Assistant District Attorney in Essex County, New York, where she had primary responsibility for prosecution of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault cases. Ellen was also Legal Director at The Legal Project from 2001 until 2006, providing civil legal services to survivors of sexual assault, and supervising other legal services provided by the organization. Ellen graduated from Albany Law School magna cum laude in 1993. Prior to law school, she worked in organizations providing direct assistance to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Gwen Wright, Executive Director
Gwen Wright was appointed Executive Director of the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in August 2013. Ms Wright has been with the Office for more than 20 years and has served in many capacities, most recently as Director of Human Services and Prevention. She has supervised training and policy programs in the areas of child welfare, social services and public benefits, substance abuse and mental health, health care and criminal justice. Ms. Wright was integral in the development and implementation of the NYS Domestic Violence and the Workplace initiative required by Executive Order in 2007. Ms. Wright has received numerous awards for her work in the field of domestic violence.
Ms. Wright has held numerous positions in the domestic violence field. She is the former Executive Director of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a statewide grassroots advocacy group. While there, she coordinated statewide legislative activities, organized regional domestic violence efforts, participated in numerous policy discussions with state lawmakers and made dozens of media appearances, both locally and nationally. Additionally, she has worked in local domestic violence programs in Ulster and Westchester counties where she was responsible for programs designed to support abused women and their children, and for the provision of legal and system advocacy.
Ms. Wright has served on many local, state and national non-profit boards of directors, most notably A Call to Men, NCADV, In Our Own Voices and The Pride Center of the Capital Region. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and Empire State College. She currently serves as a member of the Hoyt Children and Family Trust Fund.
Justice Deborah A. Kaplan
Justice Deborah A. Kaplan was recently appointed Statewide Coordinating Judge for Family Violence Cases. Her office, the Office of the Statewide Coordinating Judge for Family Violence Cases (OFVC), works collaboratively with the state’s administrative judges and judges and staff who handle domestic violence and integrated domestic violence matters statewide with the goals of refining practices and promoting better and more consistent outcomes in matters involving family violence, encouraging continuing innovation and increasing the breadth and depth of support for the courts.
Another related and critically important component of the OFVC is developing programs, protocols and procedures to improve how the court system addresses the growing number of cases involving the state’s older population, including allegations of elder abuse both in the civil and criminal context. The OFVC also houses the New York State Judicial Committee on Elder Justice which is a collaboration between the court system, non-profit service providers, government agencies, academics, mediators, social workers, law enforcement, prosecutors, legal services attorneys and other members of the bar. In collaboration with these community partners, the OFVC is working to ensure that all court personnel are aware of and responsive to the needs of older litigants and the particular challenges they may face.
Justice Kaplan is an elected Justice of the Supreme Court and has presided over a Matrimonial Part for the past eight years. In addition to her new statewide position, she continues to maintain a matrimonial caseload. She has been a judge for fourteen years. Judge Kaplan currently co-chairs the Supreme Court Gender Fairness Committee and serves on the New York State Judicial Advisory Counsel and the Women in the Courts Committee. She is a past president of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York. Judge Kaplan received her undergraduate degree from SUNY Albany and her JD from St. John's University School of Law.
