Pro bono attorneys represent low-wage taxpayers in IRS proceedings to obtain Earned Income Tax Credits, innocent spouse relief, and classification as employees, and to settle collection cases. Relief frequently enables low-income workers to remain above the poverty line and in the work force.
Pro bono attorneys based at the Queens Neighborhood Office provide direct representation and advice to victims of unlawful lending practices in the mortgage and consumer credit industries. Volunteer lawyers assist clients on legal issues concerning mortgage foreclosure, deed theft and fraud, debt collection, identity theft, and restraining notices.
Volunteer counsel represents low-wage and immigrant workers who have been unfairly denied unemployment insurance or Family and Medical Leave Act benefits, or been unjustly fired, had back wages withheld illegally, or been denied employer insurance or pension benefits. Immigrant clients, in particular, face unique problems in securing their legal rights stemming from a fear of deportation and linguistic and other barriers.
Transactional lawyers provide invaluable pro bono assistance to low-income non-profit organizations, low-income start-up businesses, and low-income housing cooperatives in New York City’s poorest neighborhoods. The representation of non-profits groups brings educational and social services to our neediest communities, while micro enterprise and housing development assistance create local jobs and economic activity, and contribute to long-term community stability.
Volunteer lawyers represent low-income immigrants in deportation, exclusion, removal, and asylum cases involving a wide range of legal issues. Clients frequently are long-time permanent residents who have committed a crime many years ago, but now are working, raising families, and are integrated into their communities. Volunteer counsel asserts their viable claims to remain in this country based upon fear of torture and persecution in their native country and their family ties in the U.S.
Pro bono attorneys secure critical benefits for physically and mentally disabled children and adults at administrative hearings before the Social Security Administration. Many of these clients suffer from a debilitating illness such as kidney failure, severe cardiac disease, vision and hearing limitation, depression, or dementia. They are eligible for, but have been denied or terminated from, disability, retirement or other benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security (OASDI) programs, often forcing them onto the welfare rolls.
Pro bono lawyers help to meet the immense need of indigent senior citizens for legal representation – preventing unlawful evictions, obtaining essential medical care, securing necessary government benefits, or providing trusts and estates assistance. Defending seniors in proceedings by creditors is particularly crucial by removing liens on bank accounts containing exempt Social Security benefits used to pay rent, food, and other essentials.
Volunteer lawyers represent domestic violence survivors to secure orders of protection, custody of their children, child and/or spousal support, and termination of abusive marriages. Frequently, clients are battered immigrant women whose status is derived from their abuser. Pro bono counsel proceeds to adjust these clients’ lawful immigration status independent of their abuser through use of Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA) self petitions and battered spouse waivers. The representation assists immigrant battered women to end domestic violence, achieve economic self sufficiency, and increase family stability.
As new drug regimens extend the lives and improve the medical condition of our clients living with HIV/AIDS, pro bono representation has broadened to include government benefits, family law, consumer law, estate planning, and other general civil matters, as well as AIDS-specific issues.
Pro bono counsel helps to prevent homelessness by defending tenants in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) administrative hearings who are threatened with eviction, often based upon the antisocial conduct of a child or grandchild or the failure of public assistance to pay the rent.
The Pro Bono Housing Preservation Project Housing ensures that tenants have habitable apartments free from rodents, leaks, and other dangerous conditions. Housing Court proceedings are initiated against landlords who willfully refuse to provide heat and hot water during winter, or cure building code violations that threaten tenants’ life, health, or safety and continued occupancy. Litigation includes a post-judgment contempt practice.
Volunteer lawyers also bring enforcement proceedings in Civil Court to compel private landlords to correct hazardous building conditions and charge lawful rents, and in appropriate circumstances apply for appointment of an administrator to manage badly deteriorated buildings.
Pro bono counsel is enlisted to create trusts for foster children who receive an award in a personal injury matter or receive an inheritance. Volunteer counsel may represent a child in an estate administration or represent a relative of the child in a proceeding for guardianship of the child’s property.
Pro bono attorneys also prepare simple wills for low income elderly clients and administer small estates of deceased spouses or other family members. The representation protects the limited asserts of these vulnerable New Yorkers and helps them to achieve peace of mind by settling their affairs.