Rosemary Nidiry

Rosemary (“Ruby”) Nidiry is the senior counsel for Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration (LEL). In this role, Ruby is responsible for all oversight and operations of LEL and supervises the group’s staff and work.

Ruby brings to the role extensive relevant experience in federal prosecution as well as in policymaking, philanthropy, and advocacy. She spent over 15 years in federal criminal prosecution and policymaking, including as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for over a decade, a member of President’s Obama’s Special Task Force on Detainee Disposition, and as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2017 to 2022, she served as the Deputy Director of Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP). In that role, Ruby was involved in the management, strategic planning, and day-to-day operations of a national non-profit organization that created and sustained a network of elected prosecutors committed to furthering a new vision for prosecution. Before joining FJP, Ruby was a Director of Criminal Justice for the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. She has also served as a senior investigator for the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission in Beirut, Lebanon, and as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ruby holds a JD from Columbia University School of Law and a BA from Princeton University. She began her career as a law clerk to Judge Robert P. Patterson of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Carlos F. Lucero of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She’s on the board of directors of the Women’s Prison Association, the nation’s first organization focused on women impacted by incarceration.