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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.
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.
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.
During the course of a nonpayment representation, our Housing Justice client suffered a stroke and lost the capacity to act on his own behalf. Our client’s son is taking care of his father but does not currently have a properly executed Power of Attorney or other authority to address our client’s legal needs. Our client’s son seeks pro bono advice about possible next steps and/or representation on an Article 81 guardianship petition on behalf of his father.
As Legal Aid does not have expertise with Article 81 guardianships, we will not be able to co-counsel or mentor this matter. We are able to assist with connecting volunteers with the client and his family.
Pro bono representation is needed for The Legal Aid Society on an Article 78 alleging failure of the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) to comply with a FOIL request originally sent on October 8, 2024.
The FOIL request seeks consumer judgement data necessary for Legal Aid to determine whether there has been compliance with New York State’s Fair Consumer Judgment Interest Act (FCJIA). Passed in 2022, the FCJIA lowered pre-and post-judgment interest from 9% to 2% for all consumer debt actions, including rental/use and occupancy judgements in Housing Court. Despite an effective date of April 22, 2022, the NYS Office of Court Administration was unable to correct the form judgements utilized by the court until September 17, 2024. Therefore, judgements issued during that period incorrectly stated the interest rate which could be collected. Since OCA was unable to provide data for the number of erroneous judgments issues, The Legal Aid Society filed this FOIL request with the DOI seeking information from the NYC Marshalls, the administrative agency responsible for enforcing the judgements.
DOI acknowledged LAS’ FOIL and provided a response date of March 13, 2025. However, since March 13, 2025, DOI has been unilaterally extending its time to respond four different times (on March 13, 2025, March 17, 2025, November 20, 2025, and March 19, 2026) and recently denied part of the FOIL. The team is working on the appeal, but anticipates the Article 78 will be ready to move forward soon.