About Scott Ross
Scott Ross Hechinger built his career around public defense and systemic reform. He earned a B.A. in English from Duke University in 2004 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2010. Those academic years set the stage for a string of roles in both courtroom practice and policy work.
Early in his legal training Hechinger worked as a student lawyer with the Federal Defenders of New York in 2009. After law school he served as a Sinsheimer Fellow and staff lawyer at the Partnership for Children’s Rights in 2010. The following year he clerked for a federal judge, a role that gave him direct exposure to federal litigation and courtroom procedure.
In 2017 he joined Brooklyn Defender Services as a senior staff lawyer and director of policy. There he handled client representation while also shaping organizational positions on criminal justice issues. His time at Brooklyn Defender Services combined hands-on defense work with policy development, and it brought him into conversations about courtroom practice, municipal actors, and legislative change.
Hechinger left to launch an advocacy and litigation organization in 2019. As founder and executive director of Zealous, he pivoted toward building an institution intended to influence practices beyond any single case. The organization has pursued impact litigation, research and public advocacy aimed at changing how legal systems treat vulnerable people.
In 2023 Hechinger took on a teaching role as a lecturer of law at the University of Chicago Law School. That appointment added a classroom component to his portfolio, allowing him to teach, mentor students and bring practical insights from his litigation and policy work into an academic setting.
Across his career Hechinger has moved between client representation, organizational leadership and scholarship. His work has touched federal and local courts, nonprofit legal practice and institutional reform efforts. He is admitted to practice in New York and continues to work on cases and projects that intersect litigation and policy.
Hechinger currently leads Zealous, housed c/o Tides Center, and balances that leadership with teaching and public litigation projects. His current practice focuses on impact litigation and systemic reform efforts in New York and beyond.
