Professor Debra Bechtel is one of New York’s foremost experts in low-income and limited equity cooperatives. In 1997 she founded the Law School’s
Corporate and Real Estate Clinic through which students provide representation for these co-ops. She also developed the
Transactional and Community Development Externship, which she has taught since 2009. Professor Bechtel is a frequent speaker at State Bar programs and community conferences on affordable housing topics, and she has written for the
ABA Affordable Housing Journal. She was recently appointed to the City Bar Committee on Housing and Urban Development, and is an
Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Committee Member.
Professor Bechtel has over 25 years of experience in the areas of real estate law and community development as a staff attorney and then director of the Community Development Legal Assistance Center in New York. She was also a staff attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago and formerly worked in private practice.