Robert Hornstein is the Chief of Civil Legal Services at PDS.  He is committed to working with CLS’s experienced attorneys to further develop PDS’s civil litigation practice to address the collateral consequences of arrest and conviction for PDS clients, to further integrate PDS’s civil litigation capabilities into PDS’s criminal defenses practice areas, and to address structural barriers that burden and affect PDS clients’ ability to successfully reenter the community.

Rob spent 20 years in private practice and with federally funded poverty law programs in Mississippi, Delaware, and Florida. As a public interest attorney, Rob handled a wide array of poverty law litigation in both state and federal court as well as in administrative forums.  That litigation included public housing issues, fair housing cases, school expulsions, special education advocacy, and consumer matters.  In Delaware, he litigated the rights of homeless families to extended emergency assistance benefits.  In Florida, he litigated and wrote about the use of jury trials and defenses to protect against the loss of housing for families facing eviction under One Strike drug and criminal activity housing authority policies. Prior to joining PDS, Rob taught at Florida Coastal School of Law.  While at Florida Coastal, he taught and wrote on poverty law issues.