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Attorneys, law students, and other volunteers work in partnership with Legal Aid Society staff in order to expand our ability to provide legal services to a greater number of clients and communities.
All pro bono referrals have been screened by our attorneys and legal professionals who are experts in the field. Those same experts remain on the case to provide mentorship and guidance throughout the representation.
Last year, over 1,900 volunteers donated 150,000+ hours of legal assistance to the clients of The Legal Aid Society.
But no metrics can adequately quantify what pro bono assistance means to a family facing homelessness, a client whose rights are violated by unlawful police conduct, or a child in foster care whose educational needs are not being met.
For nearly 150 years The Legal Aid Society has worked together with the private bar to provide life changing legal assistance and deliver “Justice In Every Borough”.
The staff of The Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Practice is:
Beth Hofmeister, Supervising Attorney Rosemary Hare-Bey, Pro Bono Coordinator Georgia Bartels-Newton, Pro Bono Specialist Lou Sartori, Chief Counsel
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.
volunteers
hours of pro bono work
matters handled by volunteers and interns
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP A&O Shearman Milbank LLP Dechert LLP Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP Debevoise & Plimpton LLP Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP White & Case LLP Covington & Burling LLP Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Latham & Watkins LLP Cooley LLP Fish & Richardson P.C. Mayer Brown LLP Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Winston & Strawn LLP Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Morrison & Foerster LLP O’Melveny & Myers LLP Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Kirkland & Ellis LLP Selendy Gay PLLC Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP Paul Hastings LLP Proskauer Rose LLP Petrillo Klein + Boxer LLP Wang Hecker LLP Sidley Austin LLP DLA Piper Anderson & Associates, P.C. Alston & Bird LLP Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP Raines Feldman Littrell LLP Loeb & Loeb LLP Kelley Drye & Warren LLP Jenner & Block LLP Ropes & Gray LLP
Reed Smith LLP Seyfarth Shaw LLP Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello PC Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP Lowenstein Sandler LLP Crowell & Moring LLP Goodwin Procter LLP Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP Pryor Cashman LLP Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Norton Rose Fulbright LLP Meenan & Associates, LLC Hecker Fink LLP Steptoe LLP Rower LLC ArentFox Schiff LLP Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP Nixon Peabody LLP American International Group, Inc. (AIG) Visa
Anthony Perez Cassino, Milbank LLP Each year, the Public Interest Law Leadership Award is presented to a leader in the pro bono community whose partnership with Legal Aid has helped provide exceptional legal services to low-income New Yorkers. Tony is recognized for his extraordinary contributions as a volunteer attorney and leader of Milbank’s legendary pro bono program for over 25 years.
Under Tony’s stewardship, the attorneys and professional staff at Milbank have taken on matters that have made a significant and lasting impact on not only the clients of Legal Aid, but thousands of New Yorkers in every borough. Through both individual representations and impact litigation, Milbank contributed over 4,000 hours of pro bono assistance to Legal Aid clients last year, in matters as diverse as housing, tax controversies, immigration, civil rights, juvenile rights, and police accountability.
Outstanding Pro Bono Assistance to the LGBTQ+ Unit
Paul Hastings The Paul Hastings team was co-counsel with the LGBTQ+ Law and Policy Unit on a case challenging the forced genital examination of a transgender man incarcerated in state prison. This was a challenging case, but the team remained dedicated to fighting against a practice that has historically been difficult to litigate and ultimately achieved a stellar result for the client.
Mayer Brown The LGBTQ+ Law and Policy Unit and Prisoners’ Rights Project nominate Mayer Brown for their amazing work in preparing a case against the New York State prison system for refusing to transfer a transgender woman to a women’s prison, despite the clear risks to her safety and well-being. After diligent research and advocacy, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) agreed to move the client. The firm’s work is a part of the effort to change DOCCS’ transphobic approach to housing decisions.
Fried Frank Fried Frank has been a crucial partner to the LGBTQ+ Law and Policy Unit in the success of the monthly Ali Forney Center Transgender Name Change Clinic. The partnership has been a fantastic way to bring needed resources to an underserved group of people, LGBTQ homeless youth.
Fried Frank has also been an important partner in representing Legal Aid in a pending FOIL before the NYC Department of Correction with the goal of increased information about the treatment of TGNCNBI people in custody.
Freshfields In partnership with the Criminal Appeals Bureau and the LGBTQ+ Law and Policy Unit, Freshfields co-counseled a motion to resentence a gender-expansive person under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act. This case presents an important opportunity to ensure state courts equitably apply this important law to LGBTQ+ community members who experience intimate partner violence.
Tireless Pro Bono Advocacy Securing Vacatur of a Wrongful Conviction
Garrett Ordower, Scale LLP Garrett worked for a decade with the Criminal Appeals Bureau to help secure the exoneration of wrongfully convicted client Steven Ruffin. He worked doggedly to reinvestigate the case and convince the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office that Mr. Ruffin was innocent. In January 2024, Mr. Ruffin was exonerated.
Outstanding Pro Bono Assistance in Safeguarding Affordable Housing In New York City
Selendy Gay The Selendy Gay team worked with the Civil Law Reform Unit on four cases defending the Emergency Tenant Protection Act and Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act after a group of landlords filed to overturn the laws in Community Housing Improvement Program v. City of New York. Rent regulation covers approximately one million units of housing in New York City. It is the largest source of affordable housing and the vast majority of rent-regulated tenants are low-income. We ultimately secured dismissal of the case, and were successful in defending the dismissal in the Second Circuit. In 2023, petitions for certiorari from three plaintiffs were denied by the US Supreme Court.
Outstanding Pro Bono Assistance to the Employment Law Unit
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP The Cravath, Swaine & Moore team assisted Legal Aid’s Employment Law Unit in litigating a wage and hour, discrimination, and tenant harassment case against one of New York City’s worst landlords (as designated by the Public Advocate). Our clients were a superintendent and his domestic partner. The firm’s deposition practice and completion of discovery were invaluable in reaching a settlement that the clients can use to secure stable housing.
Wang Hecker LLP The Wang Hecker team led the litigation through the early stages of discovery, gathered and reviewed documents from the client, and analyzed the defendant’s document production. They successfully encouraged defense counsel to agree to mediation before a magistrate judge, which led to a favorable settlement for the client.
Petrillo Klein + Boxer LLP The Petrillo Klein + Boxer team helped prepare our client and conduct numerous depositions in a short time and with a constantly changing schedule. They reviewed discovery and helped us press for missing responsive material. The depositions resulted in helpful fact discovery that contributed to our ability to settle the case.
Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP Schlam Stone & Dolan, along with Gender Equality Law Center, worked on a Fair Labor Standards Act case involving a client who was mistreated and underpaid at a laboratory facility in Long Island for approximately a year. The team was instrumental throughout the case, assisting with client meetings, editing pleadings and motions, responding to discovery, and negotiating settlement terms during the court-ordered mediation.