 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2023) |
 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(June 2023) |
The City Bar Justice Center (Justice Center) provides pro bono legal services to low-income clients throughout New York City. It is part of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
The City Bar Justice Center grew out of ad hoc efforts at the New York City Bar Association during the 1970s and 1980s to provide pro bono legal services to the poor. [1] These efforts in 1978, included a committee of senior volunteer lawyers that was formed to assist senior citizens and prisoners. In the early 1980s, the Committee on Immigration and Nationality Law trained volunteer lawyers to help Haitians with asylum claims, and following passage of the 1986 Immigration Law that provided a one-year amnesty for illegal immigrants, the Committee organized legal clinics at churches and neighborhood associations as well. Around the same time, the City Bar's Committee on Legal Assistance sponsored a pro bono project in Housing Court.
In 1987, the City Bar created the Community Outreach Law Program (COLP) to provide legal information, referral services, and direct representation to the city's homeless. Through the early 1990s, COLP expanded to include Monday Night Law, a free weekly clinic at the City Bar; AIDS Counseling; Hostos Center for Women's and Immigrants’ Rights; as well as bankruptcy, homeless, cancer and elder law projects. By 1993, more than 100 summer associates volunteered in COLP programs. In 1997, the Self-Help Information, Education and Legal Defense (SHIELD) Hotline was launched as a low-income parallel to the City Bar's Legal Referral Service. In 1989, the Hostos Center for Women's and Immigrants’ Rights received the State Bar Association's Award of Merit. In 1983, the Immigrants Legal Rights Project received the American Bar Association’s Public Service Award.
In response to the events of 9/11, the City Bar, through its COLP and SHIELD projects, trained approximately 3,000 attorneys and served over 4,000 New Yorkers affected by 9/11 with pro bono representation.
In 2005, the City Bar Fund changed its name to the City Bar Justice Center.
According to its 2008-2009 Annual Report, “The City Bar Justice Center’s mission is to increase access to justice by leveraging the resources of the New York City legal community. Drawing upon our relationship with the New York City Bar, the Justice Center provides legal assistance to those in need; mobilizes lawyers, law firms, corporate legal departments, and other legal institutions to provide pro bono legal services; educates the public on legal issues; fosters strategic relationships; and impacts public policy.”
The NYC Know Your Rights Project is a collaboration with The Legal Aid Society and the New York Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The Project recruits and trains pro bono attorneys to interview and advise detained immigrants at a weekly legal clinic held at the Varick Federal Detention Facility in downtown Manhattan. [2]
The Immigrant Women and Children Project assists survivors of violence, abuse and human trafficking in legalizing their immigration status. Project staff train law enforcement, community-based organizations and NGOs on the legal remedies available to these crime victims. [3]
The Refugee Assistance Project represents individuals who have suffered torture and other forms of persecution in their home countries and who are seeking asylum in the U.S. The Project also assists with filing relative petitions and obtaining asylum-related benefits such as employment authorization, refugee travel documents and green cards.
The Legal Clinic for the Homeless provides advice, advocacy and representation to families who are residents of homeless shelters on a variety of matters related to public benefits. The Project sponsors legal clinics at homeless shelters, with services provided by a partnering law firm or corporate legal department.
The Consumer Bankruptcy Project provides legal assistance to low-income consumers with outstanding debts, assisting with the filing of pro se bankruptcy petitions, and providing pro bono representation to debtors in contested matters.
The Foreclosure Project recruits, trains and mentors pro bono attorneys to assist distressed homeowners in an effort to preserve homes and minimize damage to creditworthiness. [4] It includes the Lawyers Foreclosure Intervention Network, co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and additional efforts supported by the New York State Banking Department and New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation.
The Veterans Assistance Project recruits, trains and mentors volunteer attorneys to provide pro bono assistance to veterans in connections with the filing of disability benefits claims before the New York City Regional Office of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project provides legal assistance to low-income micro-entrepreneurs in the initial stages of structuring a company or strengthening an existing business.
The Elderlaw Project trains pro bono attorneys to counsel and represent seniors in a variety of legal areas.
The Cancer Advocacy Project provides cancer patients, survivors and their families with legal information and pro bono legal assistance on issues relating to discrimination in the workplace, health law, insurance issues, access to public benefits, advance directives and wills.
The City Bar Public Service Network serves as a clearinghouse for pro bono opportunities throughout New York City and develops innovative legal and non-legal volunteer placements for attorneys.
The Legal Hotline assists over 1,000 telephone callers a month on a range of civil issues.
The Justice Center is part of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, a 501(c)3 corporation. Kurt M. Denk is the Justice Center's executive director.
Pro bono publico, usually shortened to pro bono, is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them.
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commonly referred to as the New York City Bar Association, founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization has been headquartered in a landmark building on 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. Today the City Bar has more than 23,000 members. Its current president, Susan J. Kohlmann, began her two-year term in May 2022.
Robert Allen Katzmann was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 1, 2013, to August 31, 2020.
Pro Bono Net is a US nonprofit organization based in New York City and San Francisco. The organization works in close partnership with nonprofit legal aid organizations across the United States and Canada, to increase access to justice for the millions of poor people who face legal problems every year without help from a lawyer. It does this by (i) supporting the innovative and effective use of technology by the nonprofit legal sector, (ii) increasing participation by volunteers, and (iii) facilitating collaborations among nonprofit legal organizations and advocates working on similar issues or in the same region. Founded in 1998 with a grant from the Open Society Institute, Pro Bono Net has developed a broad base of support from foundations, law firms, corporate sponsors and nonprofit partners alike, to build web platforms that offer powerful and sophisticated online tools to pro bono and legal aid advocates, and to provide critical legal information and assistance directly to the public. Its model has been adopted in 30 states and regions, reaching approximately two-thirds of the poverty population and lawyers in the United States.
The Boston Bar Association (BBA) is a volunteer non-governmental organization in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With headquarters located at 16 Beacon Street in the historic Chester Harding House, across from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill, the BBA has 13,000 members drawn from private practice, corporations, government agencies, legal aid organizations, the courts and law schools.
The Arkansas Legal Services Partnership was a consortium of two nonprofit legal services programs, the Center for Arkansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Arkansas, that worked together to provide free civil legal assistance to low-income residents throughout Arkansas. While the two nonprofits still collaborate, the Arkansas Legal Services Partnership no longer exists.
The Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH)Victoria was a not-for-profit legal referral service, operated from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1994, following the model of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc. is a non-profit civil rights law firm located in New York City, specializing in the areas of disability rights, access to health care and environmental justice.
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP is a Los Angeles-based law firm of more than 450 attorneys and other professionals founded in 1965. The firm earned revenues of $316.9 million in 2017. Donna L. Wilson is the firm's Chief Executive and Managing Partner. On June 11, 2018, Manatt announced that Wilson had been elected to succeed William Quicksilver as the firm’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner. Wilson assumed the leadership role on July 1, 2019, at which time Quicksilver became the Managing Partner Emeritus.
A legal clinic is a legal aid or law school program providing services to various clients and often hands-on-legal experience to law school students. Clinics are usually directed by clinical professors. Legal clinics typically do pro bono work in a particular area, providing free legal services to clients.
The Bar Association of San Francisco(BASF) was established in 1872 as a nonprofit legal membership organization that provides San Francisco legal professionals with networking, educational and pro bono opportunities in order to better serve the community.
Legal aid in the United States is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system in the United States. In the US, legal aid provisions are different for criminal law and civil law. Criminal legal aid with legal representation is guaranteed to defendants under criminal prosecution who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Civil legal aid is not guaranteed under federal law, but is provided by a variety of public interest law firms and community legal clinics for free or at reduced cost. Other forms of civil legal aid are available through federally-funded legal services, pro bono lawyers, and private volunteers.
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc. (HRI) is a non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance and social services to refugees and immigrants in the North Texas area who are the victims of human rights abuses. It was founded in 1999 by attorney Elizabeth "Betsy" Healy and social worker Serena Simmons Connelly. HRI assists clients through two main programs: the Asylum program and the Women and Children's program. The majority of legal cases are handled by a large network of volunteer attorneys.
Public Counsel is the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the United States. Initially called the Beverly Hills Bar Association Law Foundation, it was the first bar-sponsored public interest law firm in the United States.
The Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) is a voluntary bar association with more than 16,000 members throughout Los Angeles County, California, and the world. Founded in 1878, LACBA has strived to meet the professional needs of lawyers, advance the administration of justice, and provide the public with access to justice.
The New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) is a bar association located in New York City.
Safe Passage Project Corporation is a non-profit legal services organization that provides free lawyers to refugee and immigrant children in the New York City-area who face deportation.
The Alaska Immigration Justice Project(AIJP) is a non-profit agency that provides low-cost immigration legal assistance to immigrants and refugees in all immigration applications including citizenship, permanent resident status, work permits, asylum, family-based petitions and immigration petitions for immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.
The Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, JALA, developed during the Great Depression and the recession of 1937 out of a group of attorneys who organized to provide pro bono legal services to those who could not afford the services. The Jacksonville Area Legal Aid was officially named in 1973, and received 501(c)(3) tax status in 1976. JALA is a mid-size law firm with over 50 lawyers and support staff who offer free legal services to low income clients in civil legal matters which include public benefits, employment/unemployment law, family law, landlord-tenant disputes, fair housing, guardianship, refugee and asylee immigration, foreclosure defense, and consumer law. JALA works with Florida Coastal School of Law and has supported accredited externships with the Florida State University.
The Central Virginia Legal Aid Society (CVLAS) is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal assistance in civil matters to low-income and elderly residents in central Virginia.