About Us

edEd Wassermann launched Wassermann Government Strategies (WGS) in 2015 with one goal in mind: to help its clients successfully navigate the complexities of NYS government to achieve budgetary, legislative and rule making results.

Its founder, president and CEO, Ed Wassermann, has spent over 35 years as an attorney and lobbyist, employing the highest of professional and ethical standards in his representation of individuals, corporations and other organizations (both non-profit and “for profit”) before every branch and level of government.

As the former chief counsel to the NYS Senate Democratic Conference, counsel to the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee and counsel to the NYS Assembly Committees on Correction and Oversight, Analysis and Investigations, Mr. Wassermann has extensive experience with the inner-workings of State government. And as a former partner of Marsh, Wassermann & McHugh and chief operating officer of The Elk Street Group, he brings equally strong government relations expertise to WGS. Mr. Wassermann is the former deputy director of the New York State Defenders Association and, over the years, has represented clients in criminal, civil and family court matters.

He is admitted to the practice of law in New York State as well as the Northern District Federal Court and the United States Supreme Court.

(Read Ed’s Linked In profile.)

Notable Achievements
 
Among his many lobbying efforts to effect policy changes at the State level, Mr. Wassermann has been a key player in successful campaigns to:
  • pass legislation to prevent eyewitness misidentification and false confessions in criminal cases
  • prohibit prison-based gerrymandering
  • enact discovery, bail and speedy trial reforms
  • eliminate unrestricted solitary confinement in New York State’s prison and jail systems
  • ensure counsel for immigrants facing deportation
  • overturn New York’s draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws
  • secure $500,000 for early childhood education
  • pass key elements of the Women’s Equality Agenda
  • enact the Marriage Equality bill into law
  • convert a State prison into a re-entry facility in the Bronx
  • end lifetime parole for deserving, formerly incarcerated individuals
  • secure funding for legal advocacy to guarantee basic human rights for incarcerated individuals
  • secure funding for civil legal service providers throughout the state
  • establish a statewide Office of Indigent Legal Services to improve the quality of representation for the criminally-accused
Among his many local activities, Mr. Wassermann serves as the Executive Branch appointee to the Board of Directors of the Watervliet Arsenal Business and Technology Partnership, where he is directly involved in the Capital Region’s job creation efforts, with a special focus on promoting opportunities for veterans of the armed services.