Emma Freeman

Emma Freeman is a civil rights litigator who has spent over ten years fighting sexual abuse and assault, defending employees who experience workplace discrimination, safeguarding the right to religious free exercise, and protecting ordinary citizens from misconduct and excessive force by police and correctional officers. A member of the New York City Bar Association Civil Rights Committee and a New York “Super Lawyers” Rising Star, Emma is an appellate attorney known for her finely-crafted written work, forceful oral advocacy, and belief that everyone—not just the most powerful and well-resourced—is entitled to excellent legal counsel.

In addition to her work as Appellate Counsel with Ringstrom DeKrey, Emma maintains her own solo practice that focuses on employment discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, and Section 1983 appeals.  Before founding her firm, Emma litigated federal and state appeals with Apollo Law, a Minnesota-based appellate boutique that focuses on employee and consumer rights, and litigated trial cases with Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, a nationally recognized civil-rights boutique law firm in Manhattan. Emma has achieved a number of groundbreaking results throughout her career, including reforming the New York Police Department’s and Yonkers Police Department’s discriminatory policies requiring arrestees to remove religious head coverings for mug shots, enabling a woman-led sexual wellness company to advertise on New York City subways, and winning a retaliation appeal against the 2016 Trump Campaign.  

Emma has also co-directed the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School since 2024, most recently alongside Ringstrom DeKrey co-founder Dane DeKrey.

Before she entered private practice, Emma built the foundation for her appellate work by clerking for the Honorable Barbara A. Lenk of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Honorable Patti B. Saris of the District of Massachusetts, and the Honorable Raymond J. Lohier, Jr. of the Second Circuit. She attended Harvard Law School, where she graduated cum laude, received the Dean’s Award for Community Leadership, and won the prestigious Ames Moot Court Competition, earning both the Boykin C. Wright Memorial Prize for Best Overall Team and the George S. Leisure Award for Best Oralist. As an undergraduate at Yale College, Emma was elected Phi Beta Kappa.

Emma grew up in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is actively working to improve her Midwest bona fides by arguing before the Eighth Circuit any chance she gets. Outside the courtroom, Emma is likely enjoying a crossword puzzle or word game, reading fiction, or exploring local playgrounds with her husband, two sons, and Buster the dog.