CITY BAR JUSTICE CENTER NEWS
SPRING 2008
Exciting events are happening at the City Bar Justice Center and new projects are in the works! The Justice Center is dedicated to serving New Yorkers in need and providing much needed legal support through the efforts of volunteer attorneys. Read on to learn the latest news, events and other updates about the Justice Center. We hope you enjoy this spring edition and thank you for your support and dedication to pro bono services.
IN THIS ISSUE
· New Lawyers Foreclosure Intervention Network Seeks Volunteer Attorneys
· Housing Court Summer Assistance Project
· Veterans Assistance Project
· City Bar Justice Center's Third Annual Gala
· Project Highlight: Immigrant Justice Projects
New Lawyers Foreclosure Intervention Network Seeks Volunteer Attorneys
The Lawyers Foreclosure Intervention Network is a new pro bono project co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the City Bar Justice Center as a response to the recent dramatic increase in home foreclosures related to the subprime lending market. The Network will provide legal assistance to low-income homeowners facing foreclosure, with the goal of keeping people in their homes and minimizing damage to credit.
The Network is seeking volunteer lawyers to provide two kinds of legal assistance: (1) counseling homeowners and negotiating workout arrangements with their mortgage lenders, and (2) where appropriate, representing homeowners in litigation.
The City Bar Justice Center and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are hosting a one-and-a-half day free training session at the New York City Bar, 42 West 44th Street, on June 18th and June 19th. Attendees are expected to represent at least one client in return for the free CLE.
For more information on the training sessions or to volunteer, contact Carol Bockner at 212-382-4714 or .
Housing Court Summer Assistance Project
Every summer, the City Bar Justice Center, in collaboration with the New York City Civil Court, hosts the Housing Court Summer Assistance Project.
Summer associates, working under the supervision of the Housing Court Pro Se Attorneys, provide general assistance with Orders to Show Cause, Inspection and Repair Orders, Poor Person Petitions, Illegal Lockouts, and general information to Housing Court litigants. The students do not provide specific legal advice or representation. Last summer’s effort assisted three hundred pro se litigants with numerous matters.
This Project, which has grown tremendously since its inception in 1989, now operates in the Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan Housing Courts. Last year, firms and corporate law departments that participated in the Project include: Bryan Cave LLP, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto LLP, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP (formerly LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP), Pfizer, Simpson Thacher & Barlett LLP, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP.
Veterans Assistance Project
The City Bar Justice Center and many of the largest New York City law firms collaborated in setting up the Veterans Assistance Project to offer free legal advice to servicemen and women regarding disability benefits filed with the VA.
Since the initiation of the Project, four clinics have been held and about 100 veterans have been assisted. To address the growing need for legal assistance to veterans, the Project held a training on March 5th for attorneys interested in providing pro bono assistance to veterans. Around 140 attorneys attended the training. Our most recent clinic was held on April 3rd and was well staffed by many newly trained attorneys. The clinics are held on a monthly basis, the next one to be held on May 19th.
City Bar Justice Center's Third Annual Gala
On April 9th, the City Bar Justice Center held its third, and most successful, annual Gala to date.
The event honored Citigroup Inc. and Davis Polk & Wardwell with the City Bar Justice Center Award for leadership in increasing access to justice. Accepting on behalf of Citigroup was Jane Sherburne, General Counsel of Citi Global Consumer Business. John R. Ettinger, Managing Partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell, accepted on behalf of his firm. Presenting to Citigroup was Brad S. Karp, Partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Charles W. Gerdts, General Counsel of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, presented to Davis Polk & Wardwell.
For the evening, the City Bar’s historic 1897 landmark building was transformed into an upscale nightspot with Asian-themed décor, highlighted by a 40-foot long dragon and lychee martinis.
The event raised over $800,000 to support the wide range of legal services provided by the City Bar Justice Center, the pro bono affiliate of the New York City Bar. By leveraging the resources of the New York City legal community, the Justice Center provides direct legal representation, information and advocacy on behalf of 25,000 New Yorkers in the areas of Immigrant Justice, Economic Justice, Family Justice, and the city’s busiest legal hotline.
To volunteer, please contact Carol Bockner, Director of Pro Bono Initiatives, 212-382-4714, .
To donate, please contact Helen Poitra-Chalmers, 212-382-6727, .
Project Highlight: Immigrant Justice Projects
Thanks to a rally of support from volunteer law firms and the leadership of Project Director Suzanne Tomatore and Project Coordinator Michelle Muñoz, the Immigrant Women and Children Project was able to meet the April 14th deadline for the filing of U visas for domestic violence victims.
Volunteers included Natasha Restivo of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; Barbara Yan and Despina Anagnostou of Mayer Brown; Andrew Pontano and Francois Quintard-Morenas of Dechert LLP; Monica Puri and Jance Hoy of Hunton & Williams; and Patricia Wonder and Christina LaBrie of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Helping the Justice Center out was Thurgood Marshall Fellow, Johane Severin, from Brooklyn Law School.
On April 19th, the Immigration Outreach Project co-sponsored the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association 2008 Citizenship Day at Brooklyn Law School. Led by Fragomen Fellow Elizabeth Reichard, the Justice Center assembled the application materials, produced outreach materials and contacted community-based organizations to get the word out to clients. It was a memorable day, a model of clockwork collaboration and camaraderie, with law students, associates and immigration experts mingling and networking as they moved clients from station to station to have their legal needs expertly handled. By the end of the day, dozens of citizenship applications were completed and ready for filing.
The New York City Immigrant Advocacy Initiative (NYCIAI), a collaborative effort of the City Bar Justice Center and the New York Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, hosted a General Immigration Clinic on April 24th at the Mirabal Sisters School in Washington Heights. The Clinic, hosted by the Children's Aid Society, was staffed by 29 volunteer lawyers, who provided 55 immigrants with 30-minute to one-hour consultations. A wide variety of concerns were addressed, including family/employer sponsorship, adoption. and the consequences of criminal convictions.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP attorneys Jared Cohen and Michelle Torres worked with the Justice Center’s Refugee Assistance Project on its first detention case, winning before the Board of Immigration Appeals on behalf of a detained Nigerian asylum applicant.
The Refugee Assistance Project is also seeing a surge in clients from Tibet as a result of the events taking place in that part of the world.
EVENTS AT THE CITY BAR JUSTICE CENTER
Lawyers' Foreclosure Intervention Network Training
June 18 and 19
(1.5 days of free CLE training)
VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION
The City Bar Justice Center and the Legal Aid Society co-host the NYC Pro Bono Center website on Probono.net. Every month, a volunteer firm, corporation or individual attorney is recognized for pro bono service. In February, the City Bar Justice Center recognized Dechert LLP for its work with the Legal Clinic for the Homeless.
CITY BAR JUSTICE CENTER PROJECTS
IMMIGRANT JUSTICE
· Immigrant Women & Children Project
· Refugee Assistance Project
· Immigration Outreach Project
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
· Lawyers' Foreclosure Intervention Network
· Veterans Assistance Project
· Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project
· Consumer Bankruptcy Project
· Elderlaw Project
· Legal Clinic for the Homeless
· Cancer Advocacy Project
· Reentry Project
FAMILY JUSTICE
· Uncontested Divorce Project
· Contested Divorce Clinic
· Child Support Advocacy Project
LEGAL HOTLINE
(212) 626-7383
M-F 9:00AM-12:30PM
LAWHELP
CITY BAR PUBLIC SERVICE NETWORK
The City Bar Justice Center, the pro bono affiliate of the New York City Bar, increases access to justice by leveraging the resources of the New York City legal community. Justice Center projects are focused in three areas: immigrant justice, economic justice and family justice. The Justice Center also operates the city’s busiest legal hotline and special projects. The Justice Center annually provides direct legal representation, information and advocacy to over 25,000 poor and vulnerable New Yorkers.