Jason Semaya
Image of Jason Semaya

Jason Semaya

Associate

Email

jason.semaya@aoshearman.com

Phone

+1 212 848 8291

Offices

New York

V-CARD
Jason Semaya focuses on representing clients in litigation and investigative matters by providing comprehensive support throughout various stages of client disputes and conflicts.

Expertise

Experience

Pro bono

  • Supporting The Legal Aid Society’s Bronx Neighborhood Office Government Benefits Unit as a pro bono secondee.
  • Contributed to the briefing in a Social Security disability benefits appeal filed in the Southern District of New York that resulted in a successful remand for a new Social Security Administration (SSA) administrative hearing.
  • Conducted research which led to a successful outcome in a SSA administrative hearing concerning SSA’s erroneous determination that a client owned property which had led to the cessation of their only source of income, Social Security Income (SSI), which is reserved for people with severe disabilities.
  • Engaged in factual development regarding how to prove ownership of a time-share erroneously attributed to a client, which caused the SSA to determine that the client could maintain his subsistence income.
  • Prepared files to represent two individual clients with severe mental health conditions in ALJ hearings, both of whom live in supportive housing, and need to prove that they continue to be disabled by their conditions.
  • Researched statute of limitations issue relating to a client who was pursuing appeal of an adverse SSA decision, which resulted in the client’s claim staying alive where it is soon to be litigated in S.D.N.Y.
  • Researched and wrote several legal memos on issues designed to inform advocates and policy makers at The Legal Aid Society and nationally about the impact of anticipated federal policy changes on a variety of stakeholders including states and affected community members:

    • Memo regarding limitations on the federal government’s ability to tie spending powers to a state’s adoption of a particular policy under the Tenth Amendment.
    • Memo relating to the intersection of privacy protections pertaining to certain government benefits and the extent to which they can be abrogated by a federal statute purporting to supersede those protections.
    • Memo on Tenth Amendment argument concerning what constitutes commandeering.
    • Memo on the federal government’s ability to withhold federal Medicaid funds based on states’ failure to meet certain conditions.
    • Memo on what qualifies as a material or substantive change under a federal regulation where the designation of a policy change as material or substantive would trigger certain mandatory procedural steps.
  • Presentations to national groups of advocates, including fielding questions and answers on complex legal issues.
  • Presentation to Senate Finance Committee members on anticipated federal budget issues.
  • Researched legislative history for H.R.1 concerning the termination of SNAP eligibility for humanitarian entrants.
  • Research on ethical issues pertaining to the use of Artificial Intelligence in the context of certain legal work.
  • Research on a complex set of federal agency policies with an eye to discerning the extent to which the agency is failing to follow those policies when interacting with our clients.
  • Research supporting anticipated affirmative litigation and current affirmative litigation on which The Legal Aid Society is counsel.

Published Work

  • Author, "Preserving Judicial Neutrality: Regulating Stare Decisis for Elected Judges in an Era of Political Polarization," Fordham Urban Law Journal, 2023

Awards

  • Pro Bono Publico Award, The Legal Aid Society, 2025.

Qualifications

Admissions

Attorney-at-Law, State of New York, US, 2025

Courts

New York Appellate Division, First Department

Academic

BA (with distinction), Political Science (honors), History, Judaic Studies, Middle East and North African Studies, University of Michigan, 2021

JD, Fordham University School of Law, 2024

  • Business Editor, Urban Law Journal
  • ICC Mediation Competition Team Member, Dispute Resolution Society

Languages

English, Fluent; Hebrew, Basic
Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.