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Browse the latest Pro Bono Opportunities at The Legal Aid Society.
NOTE: These opportunities are only available to attorneys affiliated with firms that have an established pro bono relationship with The Legal Aid Society.
If you are interested in working on one of these matters, please contact the Pro Bono Counsel at your law firm to receive authorization and check conflicts.
Our client’s fiancé owns a welding company that makes and installs iron railings, fences, and gates for homes and buildings. The current owner seeks to transfer 60% of the business to our client, but the business has no existing corporate documents to begin the transfer. In order for our client to become majority owner, the current owner needs assistance drafting all required corporate governance documents including bylaws and issuance of shares. The current owner also needs assistance with their review of invoices and contracts for client services over the past two years, which is when the company was formed. After this process is complete, our client plans to apply to be certified as a Minority and Woman Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) so the company can be eligible for New York State projects.
The Legal Aid Society’s Community Development Unit seeks research assistance on two topics in order to better assist current and future clients. An interested attorney or firm could work on one or both of the following:
The New Amsterdam Musical Association (NAMA), the oldest African American musical organization in the United States, seeks a brief training and a guide that will help the board better understand the New York State and federal legal definitions and criteria for classifying workers, specifically employees, independent contractors, volunteers, and interns. They are looking to apply these principals as soon as possible for work happening this summer.
NAMA has a rich history. In 1904, NAMA became the first black union and granted Black musicians union cards when the American Federation of Musicians Local 310 did not admit non-white musicians. Noted union members include Jelly Roll Morton, Eubie Blake, and James Reese Europe. For over 100 years many musicians rehearsed and lodged at the NAMA headquarters located at 107 West 130th Street. This brownstone continues to serve as the organization’s headquarters.
Currently, NAMA offers lessons to all vocalists and instrumentalists at all levels at low to no cost, depending on the circumstances of the student. It also holds a host of community events such as jam sessions and barbecues that both serve as gatherings for the Harlem community as well as fundraising events for NAMA itself. NAMA engages volunteers, interns, and has retained independent contractors. At the present time, it has no intention of hiring or retaining employees. The legal classification of workers in arts and culture nonprofits has many implications and NAMA would like to avoid the pitfalls associated with classifying workers.
The Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project was contacted by approximately five women confined by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision at Albion Correctional Facility (“Albion”) in Albion, New York, to report that they were exposed to mold and other hazardous conditions in their housing unit at Albion.
The women have reported experiencing a variety of respiratory symptoms as a result their exposure including trouble breathing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, lightheadedness, persistent headaches, numbness in their face, and a cough. They also told us that they have coughed up black and brown phlegm on numerous occasions.
The women first encountered mold in the bathroom in December 2022 and complained for several additional months until the Department finally had a maintenance worker inspect the unit in July 2023. The worker determined that the air was unsafe and that the women should not have been living in that unit for so long. Eventually, NYSDOCCS transferred these women to another facility that caught fire shortly after the transfer, which the women were required to clean without proper protective equipment.
Although Legal Aid has communicated with five women, it has been reported to us that up to 50 women in total were exposed to the mold. The women we have requested assistance with identifying pro bono representation to pursue legal remedies for the Department’s failure to address the hazardous conditions.
The Legal Aid Society does not have the capacity to take on this case, so interested firms would need to sign a retainer directly with the potential clients. However, the Prisoners’ Rights Project will assist in communication and answering any questions about the case.
Our Criminal Appeals Bureau is looking for Pro Bono co-counsel to help with a pardon application for an upstanding community member who wishes to apply for U. S. citizenship.
Our client immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in 1980 at the age of 12. His transition to New York City was difficult. Needing to work part time at a young age, he struggled in school and eventually dropped out at age 17. On February 11, 1988, police stopped our then-19-year-old client and a group of others while they were walking on Jamaica Avenue. After searching our client, the police recovered cocaine and he was arrested. He was sentenced to five years’ probation for attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree but earned an early discharge after less than three years of probation.
Our client’s life began to take a turn for the better after the birth of his first child in 1990. Our client obtained a computer technician certificate and became a licensed minister, initially working as a minister’s assistant and teaching congregants how to use computers. He also started his own business building computers from scratch. In 1998, he began working full-time as a station agent for New York City Transit and remained in this role for ten years.
Since then, our client has worked diligently to engage with and better his community. In 2000, he founded his own church, which runs an afterschool program and summer camp, and provides residents with school supplies and food. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, his church offered shelter and food to those rendered homeless. The church has also received recognition for its parent empowerment program, which was part of President Obama’s fatherhood initiative. Our client serves on Community Board 14 in Queens, has authored three books, and has received many accolades due to his continued devotion to his community, including delivering the Opening Prayer of the March 20, 2023 session of the New York State Assembly.
Our client wishes to apply for citizenship, but his previous conviction involving a controlled substance currently bars him from doing so. He seeks Pro Bono counsel to help draft a pardon application with supporting documents from friends, family, and employers.
The Juvenile Rights Practice currently represents a 20-year-old client who was involved in an automobile accident while driving a rental car in December of 2023. The client, in foster care, legally rented the car and paid the extra surcharge for Young Renters and accepted the additional Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) protection.
The client received a notice from State Farm Insurance dated February 22, 2024, stating that their investigation indicated he was responsible for the loss and that they are seeking to recover their payment from him. However, there was no person identified to contact in the letter. He subsequently received a notice dated March 26, 2024, from a subrogation company stating they were retained by the insurance company to collect payments they claimed were owed. The letter states that our client owes $18,275.00 and that he is at risk of having his license suspended if he does not pay. The client is extremely concerned because he does not have additional insurance to cover this alleged loss and desperately needs to have his driver’s license to maintain his employment.
The Legal Aid Society is looking for pro bono counsel to represent this client and assist him in resolving this matter. There are a number of issues in question, including whether New York State will suspend his license because of a debt, whether his acceptance of the CDW protection should cover this claim, and what amount of coverage the rental car company is required to provide for property damage liability under New York law.
Our clients fled Venezuela after the military broke into their home in an attempt to intimidate and extort the family as part of a larger military campaign focusing on small business owners. Our primary client, the mother of the family, entered the United States on 8/24/2023, along with her three minor children and the father of her youngest child. Upon entry to the United States, our client was sexually abused by a US immigration officer. She reported the incident to other immigration officers and continues to cooperate in a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) internal investigation regarding this incident.
Pro bono counsel is needed to represent our client and her family on applications for asylum, a Change of Venue Motion from Houston to New York, and any additional matters before the Immigration Court. Counsel will also need to advise the mother regarding her continued cooperation with the CBP internal investigation, which could potentially allow the family to pursue a U visa for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.
The family must file for asylum before 8/23/2024.
LAS Immigration Law Unit advocates are available to advise and assist on this matter, but pro bono counsel should expect to take lead on all aspects of representation, including providing translation and interpretation as needed. LAS will provide access to recorded trainings outlining the basics of asylum representation and interviewing clients.
Our Health Law Unit seeks pro bono assistance on behalf of our client who wishes to pursue affirmative litigation against her prior employer who failed to properly notice a COBRA-qualifying event and retroactively disenrolled our client from their health insurance. These actions caused our client to be ineligible for Medicaid and left her with extensive medical debt.
Our client worked for a New York State-run psychiatric program until October 2020 when she was terminated due to loss of funding during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our client had a self-funded health insurance plan through her job and coverage was set to end a month after her termination. Our client was approved for Medicaid once she believed her employer-provided health insurance ended. However, the New York State of Health (NYSOH) sent her notice that she could not enroll into a Medicaid managed care plan because she was still enrolled in her prior plan. Our client did, however, qualify for Medicaid fee-for-service as secondary insurance. When our client attempted to disenroll from the employer-provided plan she was told that her employer would have to terminate her coverage and that she could not do so unilaterally. Our client made numerous attempts to contact her former employer’s HR department but never received a call back. Our client needed medical attention during this time, so she continued to use her employer-provided insurance with Medicaid fee-for-service. Between 2020 and 2022, our client went a step further and confirmed her coverage by calling plan provided by her previous employer before most, if not all her doctor visits.
In January 2023, our client called her plan before a medical appointment and was told that her former employer terminated her coverage retroactively to November 2020. Our client received a COBRA notice dated 2023 indicating that in 2020 she experienced a COBRA-qualifying event and that she would have to pay over $800/month retroactively to 2020 to receive coverage. Our client cannot afford to pay retroactively for COBRA because most, if not all, of the medical providers she saw between 2020-2022 do not accept Medicaid fee-for-service. Our client is now responsible for all doctors’ fees billed during her non-coverage period, which she cannot afford.
Initial research by our Health Law Unit on the COBRA FAQ on the NYS Department of Financial Services website indicates that employers are supposed to send COBRA notification within 30 days of the qualifying event. Furthermore, our client was supposed to receive a COBRA letter 30 days after her job loss and not three years after the fact.
Our Health Law Unit advocates seek pro bono co-counsel to explore what steps our client should take to address the failure of her prior employer and represent our client on the relevant advocacy and potential litigation.