Kathleen Rubenstein

Kathleen Rubenstein is the inaugural Visiting Fellow at Northeastern University School of Law's Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration. Previously, she served as the executive director of the Skadden Foundation. Rubenstein graduated with honors from University of Chicago Law School, where she received the Edwin F. Mandel Award for exceptional contributions to the school’s clinics. She was selected as a Skadden Fellow and completed her Fellowship at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law. After her Fellowship, she served as a federal judicial law clerk in the Northern District of Illinois. 

Rubenstein went on to hold several positions in New York City government, including serving as deputy director of the Mayor’s Office of Appointments and as deputy chief of staff and senior counsel for government policy for the New York City Law Department. Rubenstein led the Skadden Foundation from 2018-2025. The foundation was established in 1988 and has granted over 1,000 fellowships, through which attorneys begin their careers working in public interest on a full-time basis for two years. Skadden Fellows address a broad range of civil legal services to people living in poverty in the U.S., and the vast majority devote their entire careers to public interest. The foundation, under Rubenstein's leadership, provided innovative support to the entire community of 1,000 Fellows. 

Rubenstein is a 2021 graduate of the Institute for Nonprofit Practice’s Core Program, from which she received a certificate in Social Impact Management and Leadership. She is currently a 2025-26 participant in the Haywood Burns Institute’s James Bell Racial Justice and Structural Well-Being Certificate Training Series. She also serves as secretary of the board of directors of the Advocacy Institute, an organization that supports social justice organizations to build the advocacy skills necessary to shape government policy in New York. Rubenstein is admitted to practice law in New York State.