About me
Katherine LeGeros Bajuk, Esq. is the Mental Health and Veteran's Attorney Specialist for New York County Defender Services (NYCDS). A public defender in New York City representing indigent clients at all stages of the criminal process since 1994, her practice since 2015 has focused on advocating for NYCDS clients with mental health, cognitive and or intellectual disability challenges, and most recently in Veteran's Court. In 2018 she helped launch a Wellness Initiative to lessen the effects of vicarious trauma and moral injury on herself and co-workers, facilitating the implementation of in-office programs such as meditation, conflict resolution circles, and the creation of wellness spaces. She is also involved in mental health policy formulation through her work with the New York City Mayor’s Office for Criminal Justice workgroups on 730 and Behavioral Health, multiple testimonies before the New York City Council and New York State Legislature, and collaboration with the NYCDS Policy Team. She helped draft and supports The Treatment Not Jail Act, (pending), which if passed by the New York legislature will offer clients at the intersection of mental health and the criminal legal system meaningful off-ramps from incarceration statewide. She is co-chair of the New York State Bar Committee on Mandated Representation Mental Health Committee, co-chaired the Criminal Justice section of the NYSBA Task Force on Mental Health and Trauma Impacted Representation, on the New York Office of Court Administration Governors Mental Health Task Force, a co-chair of the Women’s Bar Association Criminal Law Committee, and guest faculty at the Practicing Law Institute. Ms. Bajuk is author of Op-Ed pieces in the New York Law Journal, Honey Magazine and Huffington Post; she also co-authored pieces in City Limits and AM New York. She is also co-author of the chapter on “Mental Health Courts and Other Specialty Courts” in the Second Edition of Representing People with Mental Disabilities, being published by the American Bar Association. Ms. Bajuk received her international baccalaureate from the United Nations International School, a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark, and is certified in Mental Health First Aid by MHFA New York. A born-New Yorker, Ms. Bajuk lives in NYC with her family and can be contacted at kbajuk@nycds.org.
