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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 Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project seeks pro bono counsel to bring an Article 78 proceeding challenging the New York City Law Department’s demand for fees in order to produce records related to previously unreported lawsuits. Pro bono counsel would assist with drafting, filing, and litigating the Article 78 petition in State Supreme Court on behalf of The Legal Aid Society as a client. This matter provides an excellent opportunity for firm associates to research and write legal memorandums, negotiate with adversaries, and engage in oral argument. The action must be filed on or before July 18, 2025.
Our Juvenile Rights Practice was able to obtain an order of Civil Contempt and related sanctions against the Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) for their failure to comply with a prior order pertaining to our client’s foster care placement. The Judge also ordered civil contempt sanctions of $250 per day to address the violations, which resulted in an award of $48,750.00 for our client and against the agency. ACS has appealed this decision, and our Appeal Unit wishes to co-counsel with pro bono advocates who are familiar with civil contempt proceedings on the appeal as we do not have such experience in house. Although the current deadline for filing is June 6, 2025, our attorney is requesting an extension from the court for later in the summer.
The Juvenile Rights Practice is seeking Pro Bono representation for a civil matter on behalf of a client who is currently on probation for the Juvenile Delinquency matter which gave rise to this civil lawsuit. He, along with the NYPD, is being sued for physical injury to the driver of a car and damage to that car resulting from an incident where the client was driving a separate car and refused to comply with NYPD orders to pull over; in the ensuing attempt to evade the police, he allegedly struck the car being operated by the plaintiff.
Our client has now been sued for personal injury and damage to a vehicle. The scope of the work would be to represent him fully in this matter, from negotiation to trial, and make clear to the plaintiff that the client is indigent in the hopes that the plaintiff will drop him from the suit.
The Community Development Unit’s client submitted an application to the USPTO to register a trademark for her business name. The USPTO denied the application based on Trademark Act Section 2(d) for a likelihood of confusion with an already registered mark. The mark was also denied for failure to show the applied-for mark in use in commerce with any specified goods. This determination was made final by notice dated January 29, 2025. Our client does not understand the written determination from the agency attorney and would like an attorney with trademark experience to help her understand the decision and advise her on next steps.
Our Community Development Project is seeking pro bono assistance for a community creator and business owner. “Cosmic Flame” is a queer BIPOC owned small business that handcrafts and sells spiritual candles made with 100% natural soy wax. After purchasing a domain name and forming an entity using the name “Cosmic Flame,” our client sought to register “Cosmic Flame” as a word mark with the USPTO. Although her website and marketing actually employ a composite word and design mark, she only sought to register the word mark. The USPTO rejected the word mark because it determined that there would be a substantial likelihood of confusion between her proposed mark “i.e. Cosmic Flame” and “The Cosmic Candle,” a currently registered mark in the same category. Our client subsequently abandoned her application and did not attempt to register the composite word and design mark that are actually used to identify her goods and services.
Client is seeking advice and counsel on whether: 1) a registration compromising her composite mark would likely be approved, 2) she exposes herself to liability for infringement if she keeps “Cosmic Flame” as the entity name, but operates through a DBA, and 3) it is advisable that she rebrand by creating a distinctive mark that will be approved, which would entail amending her entity name and purchasing a new domain name. If it is advisable that she rebrand, client also seeks guidance on the creation of a composite mark and assistance registering the new mark with the NYS Department of State and the USPTO.
Our client seeks assistance petitioning to become executor of his deceased father’s estate, who died intestate. Our client’s late father left several outstanding accounts that need to be closed, and our client wishes to obtain any necessary powers of administration that will authorize him to manage the estate. Ideally pro bono counsel would assist our client with this process, but advice only would also be welcome.
In May 2023, a fire broke out in our client’s apartment, causing him to be homeless for many months. Since returning home, our client received a letter from his landlord’s insurance company threatening to sue him for over one million dollars, claiming that his actions are responsible for the fire and ensuing damage. Our client, a senior living on social security, seeks advice and counsel from a pro bono attorney to understand next steps, including defenses or resolution strategies. If in fact the landlord’s insurance company commences litigation against this client, he would also be open to representation by an interested firm. Our client was asked to respond to the letter within fifteen days of receipt, so he is eager to receive advice as soon as possible.
This client’s preferred language is Arabic, and we expect that pro bono co-counsel would assist with providing translation and interpretation as needed.
Our Community Development Project’s client would like to form a medical billing practice to provide comprehensive, HIPAA-compliant medical billing and revenue cycle management services exclusively for therapy providers. This woman-owned and minority-led small business seeks to empower mental health professionals to focus on patientcare by maximizing their revenue, ensuring regulatory adherence, and streamlining their administrative processes.
Our client brings over a decade of experience in office administration, patient relations, insurance billing, and direct support to senior leadership. The services the business will offer to therapy providers include insurance claim submission and management, payment posting and reconciliation, denial management and appeals, eligibility verification, HIPPA compliance management, eligibility verification, and insurance audit assistance and management. Our client is also committed to ethical billing practices, client confidentiality, and data security.
Our client seeks Pro Bono assistance with the following:
Our client has created a platform that will allow individuals to buy and sell tokenized securities. This social enterprise may be regulated by federal and state law related to the sale of securities. The Community Development Unit, on behalf of our client, is seeking Pro Bono assistance in drafting a memo that outlines the law and regulations that may govern this novel start-up.
The Legal Aid Society’s Community Development Unit was recently approached by a small business owner who is seeking assistance with their business bankruptcy filing and possible dissolution of their business.
The owner opened his small business in 2014, which focused on walk-in repairs to electronic equipment and sold electronics second-hand. However, maintaining the business is no longer feasible. The shop is currently closed while the owner litigates a matter pertaining to the business’s commercial space, eliminating the owner’s ability to provide any in-person services and earn income. The owner has also found he can no longer keep up with required filings and expenses, which has led to both personal and business debt.
Legal Aid does not work on either small business bankruptcy filings or dissolutions but would be willing to assist with connecting a volunteer with this client to ensure they receive the support they need.
Our client is facing a holdover eviction in Brooklyn Housing Court and The Legal Aid Society is representing him in his eviction. Our client is being evicted from the home that he asserts was given to him by an older man in exchange for serving as this individual’s primary caretaker for more than a decade. The homeowner died intestate in 2023. Our client has lived in the home since 2011 with his three children and his partner.
He is now seeking assistance to help him contest the administration of the individual’s estate and the ownership of his home because upon his passing in 2023, our client is asserting that he became the rightful owner of the home. To prove he is the rightful owner, he seeks to proffer the deceased individual’s notarized will that was signed by both the individual and our client, that shows that the individual gave our client his home as payment for his services to him as his primary caretaker. Additionally, there may also be an unjust enrichment claim that could be made in Surrogate’s Court.
The letters of administration were filed 9/16/2024 in Brooklyn (Kings County) Surrogate’s Court. Ideally, the team would like to move to stay his Housing Court eviction case while he contests the administration of the estate in Surrogate’s Court. His next Housing Court date is March 31, 2025.