Steven Banks, Attorney-in-Chief of The Legal Aid Society, testified on January 30 before the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means regarding the 2012-2013 Executive Budget and warned that the current economic conditions are especially harsh on low-income New Yorkers who are in desperate need of legal assistance.
Read more »
The New York City Council held hearings yesterday on the problem of low-income New Yorkers waiting for hours in long lines to receive help. After the hearing, Judith Goldiner, the Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit of The Legal Aid Society, told the Wall Street Journal that the long lines haven't yet been eliminated. "HRA has still not managed to solve the problem—it has only managed to move the lines inside," she said in a statement. The city is also still requiring people seeking benefits to show up at appointments that are "entirely unnecessary," she said.
The Legal Aid Society's Bronx Neighborhood Office, the Bronx Criminal Defense Trial Office, and the Bronx Juvenile Rights Trial Office are all located at 260 East 161st Street as of Friday, January 27, 2012, enhancing the Society's presence and client services in the Bronx. The Bronx Neighborhood Office moved from 953 Southern Boulevard to the 161st Street location and part of the Juvenile Rights Trial Office moved to 161st Street. The move of part of the JRP Bronx operations to 161st Street will help alleviate overcrowding at the JRP Trial Office that will continue to operate at the Bronx Family Court Building at 900 Sheridan Avenue, room 6-C12.
The Legal Aid Society and the New York City Council were in court on January 20 fighting the City's new policy to begin to deny shelter from the elements for homeless women and men. Steven Banks, Attorney-in-Chief of The Legal Aid Society, told New York 1 that "it is unfortunate that it required a court proceeding to keep the City from implementing a new policy to turn away women and men seeking shelter."
In a decision issued on January 19, Federal Judge Paul A. Crotty of the Southern District of New York condemned the use of force and restraints on children in State Office of Children and Family Services facilities, but he did not issue a preliminary injunction "The problem at Office of Children and Family Services facilities is not the policy on use of force and physical restraints, but the practices utilized by the staff that are not consistent with the policy," Judge Crotty wrote in G.B. v. Carrion, 09 Civ. 10582. The lawsuit was filed against the State OCFS by The Legal Aid Society and the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.