At The Legal Aid Society our Civil, Criminal Defense, Juvenile Rights, and Pro Bono practices work tirelessly in and out of the courtroom to defend our clients and dismantle the hidden, systemic barriers that can prevent them from thriving in New York City. Our experienced teams provide comprehensive services, support, and advocacy that protect rights, keep families and communitiess together, and in many cases, changes lives. We have an intrinsic connection to the daily lives of New Yorkers. Here are a few of the places we made a difference, provided context or added valuable perspective this week.

LAS secures major reforms for students with disabilities

Chalkbeat: NYC revamps how schools handle school avoidance under legal agreement
amNY Law: NYC public schools revamp school avoidance policies in class action settlement
K-12 Dive: New York City Public Schools to place ‘school avoidance’ liaisons in every building
The Independent: Nearly a quarter of the nation’s children are chronically absent from school

More LAS in the news

NYLJ: Reimagining Justice After 150 Years of Legal Aid 
amNY Law: LAS issues brief in appeals case that NYPD’s DNA database is unconstitutional
Queens Daily Eagle: Mayor taps Jennifer Jones Austin as CCRB chair
City Limits: What We Know About Trump’s New Public Charge Rule
WIRED: DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People’s Homes Abroad
The Real Deal: Inside Joseph Makhani’s deed theft machine
Daily Mail: Urgent warning to every American over police trick that secretly takes your DNA
Hoodline: Tenants Say Burst Pipe Flooded Building for 8 Hours, Left Apartments Toxic
BisNow: Orders To Vacate On The Rise, Leaving Tenants With No Home, No Timeline
The Nation: Can Mamdani Get Criminal Justice Reform Done if Tisch Is His Police Commissioner?
Politico: Foes of Mamdani’s rent freeze eye Supreme Court
Queens Daily Eagle: Queens Dems tap three judges for Supreme Court
Amsterdam News: Major court-watching effort looks into low-level arrests under Mamdani
Gothamist: Tenant groups intervene to save Mamdani’s rent freeze after landlord challenge
City Limits: Landlords Aim To Further Dent Protections for Housing Voucher Holders
Gothamist: Advocates say Mayor Mamdani’s NYPD isn’t curbing broken-windows policing