Managing Partners
We are experienced public servants, coming from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), whose paths first crossed more as clinic partners at Georgetown Law. We founded Cedar Law upon our joint commitment to human services and the common good.
As partners, we bring our longstanding working relationship, shared history and values, and underlying friendship to everything we do. Now more than ever, we believe we are better together, and we look forward to serving you.
Jessica DeStefano
Barred in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts & New York
Jessica DeStefano brings a wealth of legal and professional experience to her work.
Most recently, she served in the Office of General Counsel at HUD, working on Single Family Housing issues for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
Prior to that, Jessica served as faculty supervisor of the Rising for Justice Housing Advocacy and Litigation Clinic, a consortium clinic for students from Georgetown University Law Center, George Washington Law School, and American University Washington College of Law.
She has worked as a Staff Attorney in the Housing Rights Project at Legal Services NYC, where she defended low-income tenants in eviction proceedings.
Jessica also served as a Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Rockland County, New York, working on a variety of legal issues.
Jessica is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (JD), where she focused on public interest law and served in the Community Justice Project. She also holds degrees from American University (BA) and Shepherd University (MA).
Jason Amirhadji
Barred in the District of Columbia & Maryland
Jason brings more than a decade of legal, regulatory, and policy experience in government affairs and administrative law, affordable housing, and resident services.
He most recently managed the HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, overseeing a $145 million grant portfolio of nearly 1,000 grantees nationwide, serving 75,000 families with 1,500 funded coordinators.
Jason also managed more than a dozen multiyear Jobs Plus Initiative innovation grants, totaling more than $25 million, including interagency development of the Community Health Worker Place-based Approach To Health (CHW-PATH) pilot program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He supported capacity-building programs, including Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS), ConnectHomeUSA, and HUD Strong Families.
As a Special Assistant to the Office of the Assistant Secretary, Jason advised and helped manage internal and external policy and communications with more than 3,000 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and 1,000 PIH staff nationwide.
He clerked for the US Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and US Attorney’s Office (USAO) for DC, the DC Housing Authority's Office of General Counsel, and the US Office of Special Counsel.
Jason is admitted to the US Supreme Court Bar and is on the Roll of Solicitors in England & Wales.
Jason graduated from Georgetown University Law Center (JD), where he worked as a Staff Attorney and Special Projects Manager for the DC Street Law Clinic and participated in the Community Justice Project. He also holds a degree from the University of Virginia (BA).
