Ben Polk is a Research Scholar at NYU School of Law, where he directs the Transformative
Justice Project. His work focuses on legal empowerment, democratic resilience, and the
institutional conditions that enable ordinary people to meaningfully use and shape the law.
Before joining NYU, he served as Global Policy Director at the International Legal Foundation,
helping to build and strengthen legal aid systems in conflict affected countries including
Afghanistan, Myanmar, Nepal, Palestine, and Tunisia. He previously worked as Justice Deputy
for Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis (formerly U.S. Secretary of Labor) and as a legal
aid lawyer, most recently managing a team providing comprehensive legal services to people
experiencing or at risk of homelessness. His first sole-authored academic article—an empirical
estimate of the funding required to provide constitutionally adequate indigent defense
nationwide—is forthcoming in the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review.