Chief Administrative Judge Joseph A. Zayas announced the appointment of two new judges to Manhattan Housing Court as part of a citywide push to improve court operations in high-volume courts.
Judges Yekaterina Blinova and Adam R. Meyers, who will preside in Manhattan, were among seven attorneys tapped to serve across housing courts in four New York City boroughs. They will both bring extensive resumes of tenant-side housing law and training in Housing Court procedure.
Five of these posts were newly created to support operations and meet increased caseloads. The judges will come into their positions at a critical time for housing courts across the city as they grapple with case backlogs and with the rollout of the state’s new good cause eviction law, which the judges will have an opportunity to shape.
Zayas thanked the governor and legislature for funding thes new judgeships, which the court system requested in its budget to address the backlogs in housing courts.
“New York City Housing Court is among the busiest courts in the nation, handling matters that directly impact New Yorkers’ day-to-day living conditions and livelihoods,” said Chief Administrative Judge Zayas. “The creation of these new judgeships has been part of our greater strategy to improve case processing and access to justice in Housing Court, which also included the hiring of new court attorneys and clerical staff to assist in this high-volume court.”
Blinova initially worked as a court attorney in Bronx Housing Court and more recently served as an associate court attorney in the Kings County Supreme Court-Civil Term’s Law Department after joining the Unified Court System in 2017. Prior to that, she worked as a staff attorney in the New York Legal Assistance Group’s Tenants’ Rights Unit, representing low-income New Yorkers in Housing Court. She began working on legal issues related to housing as an assistant borough coordinator at Housing Court Answers, where she provided information and help to unrepresented litigants. She earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.
Meyers helped found Brooklyn’s Communities Resist, a community-based legal services and advocacy organization where he most recently held the position of Director of Litigation, leading a team that stands up for housing-related legal services. While there he maintained his own caseload. Prior to founding the organization in 2019, he served as a deputy director at Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, a housing and economic development program where he represented clients in housing matters. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Housing Court Committee.
Meyers’ appointment will take effect on Sept. 9, while Blinova and several others were effective as of several weeks ago. The judges serve five-year terms and preside over proceedings in housing cases within Civil Court.
Meyers and Blinova will not be the only new arrivals to Manhattan’s Housing Court. Judges Alberto M. Gonzalez and Joan B. Rubel were appointed this past September to the borough’s Housing Court bench.
Gonzalez served as a staff attorney with Mobilization for Justice, Inc., representing tenants in all different phases of litigation. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law and a member of the New York City Bar Association, the Dominican Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association and the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens County.
Rubel previously worked as an associate court attorney in Housing Court in Kings County (Brooklyn) for nearly five years. Before that, she was a senior associate attorney at a Long Island landlord-tenant firm where she represented landlords as well as rent-regulated tenants. She also represented the City of New York in its capacity as a residential and commercial landlord during her tenure as a staff attorney at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. She earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.
