Legal Co-Director

Paul K. Sonn, Legal Co-Director 
psonn@nelp.org
(212) 285-3025 x.351
New York City Office

Areas of expertise
Minimum Wage and Living Wage · Economic and Workforce Development

Biography
Paul Sonn founded and co-directed the Economic Justice Project at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, which merged with NELP in 2008.  He has more than ten years of experience designing and implementing new policies to promote living wage jobs in low-wage industries.  Paul’s work has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine, the Nation, and the New York Law Journal.  He has received awards from Jobs with Justice and the Santa Fe Living Wage Network.  From 1994-1999 he was a Skadden Fellow and then assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Education
J.D., Yale Law School
A.B., Dartmouth College

Selected Publications

·    “New Directions for the Living Wage Movement,” in The Gloves Off Economy, Cornell Univ. Press (2008)

·    “The Fight for the Minimum Wage,” American Prospect (on-line) (June 4, 2007)

·    “Will Bill Richardson Lead on Wages?” The Huffington Post (March 1, 2007)

·    Citywide Minimum Wage Laws:  A New Policy Tool for Local Governments (Brennan Center for Justice: 2005)