Beginning in 2026, The Legal Aid Society and Empire Justice Center launched a first-of-its-kind statewide Training Center dedicated to strengthening and expanding civil legal services across New York. Sponsored by a grant from the Interest on Lawyer Account (IOLA) Fund of the State of New York, this innovative project will create a training hub utilizing the collective expertise of civil legal service providers across the state, culminating in both in-person and virtual training support over a wide range of common legal service needs.

In its first year, the Training Center is creating statewide infrastructure, which includes conducting a comprehensive needs assessment and identifying experts in various fields to develop and give the trainings.

The Legal Aid Society and Empire Justice Center are seeking pro bono guidance on how to establish and structure a trusted partner designation for peer providers of civil legal aid training. This request includes assistance with the development of Memorandums of Understanding or any other agreements to formalize the trusted partner designation.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is a federal program described by HUD as the most important resource for creating affordable housing in the United States today. However, thousands of tenants in a Bronx development created through LIHTC are facing eviction because the building management company has failed to provide tenants with a reliable way to process required recertification documents.  Instead, management has initiated hundreds of frivolous holdover cases in the Bronx Housing Court based on tenants’ alleged failure to comply. 

Tenants are frequently not notified in advance of the requirements. When tenants attempt to go directly to the management office, they are regularly turned away and told that there are no staff available to see them. Those who do submit the recertification documents find that management has not processed them or simply lost them. There are over 1,600 apartments in this development, and each one is potentially impacted by the landlord’s practices. Without a comprehensive workable system in place for tenants to recertify their incomes, tenants are subject to possible judgments against them, eviction, stress, missing work for court, and possible improper calculation of tenant rent shares.

The Housing Justice Unit is seeking pro bono co-counsel to file a complaint in NYS Supreme Court seeking a stay of all pending recertification holdovers in Housing Court and an injunction preventing the landlord from filing new recertification holdovers until they create a functional recertification process for the tenants.

Legal Aid’s Community Development Unit is seeking co-counsel to assist a client with drafting a representation agreement between our client and her agent that establishes clear expectations regarding payment, defines the agent’s responsibilities, and incorporates our client’s priorities regarding intellectual property, AI protections, and other key contractual terms. The client would like to preserve an amicable relationship with her current talent agent while formalizing that relationship through a written agreement and has provided several sample industry agreements for reference.

Our client is a New York-based professional singer who performs commercial vocal work for advertising campaigns through a talent agent. She does not have a written representation agreement with her current agent, and individual engagements appear to be handled through deal memos and informal communications. The client reports that payments are frequently delayed and that there is no written framework governing her agent’s authority, payment obligations, or the terms the agent should seek when negotiating engagements on her behalf.

In addition to any pertinent research relating developing an agreement between a freelance vocalist and her agent that meets industry standards, our client seeks advice on how the New York City and New York State Freelance Isn’t Free Act (FIFA) affects the representation agreement and basic intellectual property considerations.

Our client is a New York-based clinical practice providing culturally responsive, trauma-informed psychotherapy and professional coaching. Through a secure telehealth platform, the practice serves a diverse clientele with specialized expertise in supporting LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals. 

The applicant seeks pro bono assistance with federal trademark registration to protect its brand identity in the fields of mental health and professional development.

The Legal Aid Society’s Employment Law Unit seeks co-counsel to litigate an affirmative action in the SDNY on behalf of a client who was forced to work against her will for her immigration advocates. 

Our client, an undocumented immigrant, is originally from Morocco and came to the United States in September 2021 on an F-1 student visa. Shortly after arriving, she met her husband, who ended up sexually and physically abusing her. After she left the marriage in mid-2024, our client sought immigration help from a law firm. The law firm, who is a defendant in this matter, took advantage of our client by filing false immigration documents, charging her false immigration fees, and forcing her to perform labor in the office and babysit to pay off supposed attorneys’ fees, which is both abuse of process and debt bondage under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Our client worked for defendants from October 2024 to July 30, 2025, for almost 700 hours with no payment. After she left, our client filed a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Committee, which is currently pending.

The Legal Aid Society’s Digital Forensics Unit (DFU) seeks pro bono assistance with drafting, filing, and serving an Article 78 petition pertaining to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the NYPD for the most recent copy of the NYPD Detective Guide. Co-counsel would also respond to and litigate any opposition from the NYPD and negotiate with opposing counsel.

In early January 2025, DFU submitted a FOIL request to the NYPD for the most recent copy of the Detective Guide. The NYPD provided a copy in April 2026; however, many sections were redacted. Legal Aid has older versions of the Guide and DFU was able to swap out unredacted or less redacted versions of some of the sections, but there were new and recently updated sections that still had a lot of redactions.

DFU filed an administrative appeal in May 2026 for unredacted copies of the new and recently updated sections. The NYPD denied the appeal on May 21, 2026, starting the 4-month clock to file an Article 78. In their appeal denial, the NYPD claimed the records were exempt because “if disclosed, [they] would reveal non-routine criminal investigative techniques or procedures.”

The NYPD Detective Guide is an incredibly valuable resource for Legal Aid attorneys and investigators in both the Criminal Defense and Juvenile Rights Practices. It is used in multiple ways, including determining what paperwork/discovery should exist in a matter, what procedures the NYPD is required to follow, providing information that informs how to cross-examine officers about their investigations in cases, and a myriad of other uses.

The Article 78 petition would need to be filed by September 21, 2026, and Legal Aid has training resources and supportive materials to support pro bono volunteers.

The Legal Aid Society’s Wrongful Conviction Unit (WCU) seeks pro bono assistance with drafting, filing, and serving an Article 78 petition pertaining to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the NYPD for their Standard Operating Procedure Manual, or other relevant manuals, articulating standards and methodology for the Latent Print Section that were in effect on or around September 2008. This information would inform WCU’s representation of an individual client’s wrongful conviction claim. Co-counsel would also respond to and litigate any opposition from the NYPD and negotiate with opposing counsel.

The NYPD denied WCU’s appeal on July 31, 2026, making the Article 78 petition due on November 27, 2026. Legal Aid has training resources and supportive materials to support pro bono volunteers.