About Jason

Jason Leifer represents people in need who are facing criminal charges in local justice courts and county courts as well as custody and visitation matters in family court.  He is the principal of Jason M. Leifer, Attorney at Law, and represents children through the 3rd Department Appellate Division’s Attorney for Children Program and people who cannot afford a lawyer through the Tompkins County Assigned Counsel Program.  

Jason has been recognized for his knowledge of the criminal justice system and indigent representation by being named to the Tompkins County Legislature’s Criminal Justice Alternatives to Incarceration Board and the Advisory Board on Indigent Representation.  In addition, Jason served on the Tompkins County District Courts Task force, which studied the possibility of consolidating local justice courts into a single District Court for Tompkins County.

Jason was elected to Town Supervisor of Dryden in 2015, and is currently serving his term, elected in 2017.  He has served on Dryden’s Town Board for a total of 10 years and from 2012 – 2015 as Dryden’s Deputy Town Supervisor. He is a member of the Tompkins County Bar Association and is also licensed to practice law in the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia. 

Jason attended law school at New York Law School.  He worked full time at Ahmuty, Demers, and McManus while attending law school in the evening.  He was also a member of New York Law School’s highly competitive Moot Court Association. Before that, he graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1992 with a dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in English Literature and Radio, Television, and Film. 

While living in Maryland, Jason served as outside counsel for the District of Columbia’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs in the Business Licensing and Occupational Licensing Divisions (2003- 2008).

Jason has always been a committed public servant, and dedicated community member.  When living in Maryland after graduating from law school, he served on the Montgomery County Maryland’s Mid-County Advisory Board. Later in his new home in Dryden, he joined the local Kiwanis Club, the Ithaca Rotary Club, and coached little league baseball. Since 2016 he has volunteered to present the legal module of the Parents Apart Program hosted by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.

Education

New York Law School
Juris Doctoris

University of Maryland, College Park
Bachelor of Arts