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Press Contact: Edwina Frances Martin
Director of Communications and Government Relations
Legal Services NYC
350 Broadway, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10013
(646) 442-3600
(646) 442-3587 (fax)
info@legalservicesNYC.org



New Developments in LS-NYC Bronx Milbank Case
Friday, 13 August 2010

signscropped In May 2010, Legal Services NYC-Bronx filed a motion on behalf of tenants living in a portfolio of ten distressed apartment buildings arguing that once a foreclosure action is initiated, and a court-appointed receiver is in place, the mortgage holder can be held liable for maintaining building conditions. A decision on the case is currently on hold because the buildings’ special servicer, LNR Properties, recently announced that a deal in the works to transfer the buildings and reinstate the loan. However, the companies have refused to reveal the identity of the potential buyer, or any details of the deal.

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Thurgood Marshall Intern Program Concludes for Summmer
Friday, 13 August 2010

portrait_thurgood_marshall The Thurgood Marshall Summer Law Internship Program is the New York City Bar’s primary pipeline program for increasing Diversity in the legal profession. In addition to placing students in summer jobs with corporate law firms, legal non-profits, and judges for the summer, the program offers instruction in networking, resume-building, and office etiquette, as well as SAT prep courses, mock trial programs, a Constitutional Symposium, and mentorship programs. Chaired by LS-NYC’s Director of Communications and Government Relations, Edwina Frances Martin, the program this year had more attorney volunteers and participating employers than ever before.

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American Bar Association Adopts Civil Gideon Policies
Friday, 13 August 2010

thumb_thumb_aba 2010During its two days of debate at its 2010 Annual Meeting, the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates approved fundamental requirements for effectively providing representation to persons who cannot afford a lawyer in adversarial civil proceedings involving such basic human needs as shelter, sustenance, safety, health and child custody, that are embodied in ABA Basic Principles of a Right to Counsel in Civil Legal Proceedings. The policy was brought to the House by the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants with support from 12 other ABA entities and bar associations.  In a companion proposal, the House of Delegates adopted the ABA Model Access Act, a model statute for use by implementing jurisdictions to establish and administer a civil right to counsel.

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Recent Housing and Foreclosure Prevention Victories by BSLS and SILS
Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Two clients will be able to stay in their homes dues to notable recent victories by Bedford-Stuyvesant Housing Unit Staff Attorney Elizabeth Bohnett and Staten Island Legal Services Foreclosure Prevention Unit Staff Attorney Joseph Sant.

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FTC Restricts Debt Settlers, Relies on Testimony of SBLS and QLS in Justifying Ruling
Thursday, 05 August 2010

Debt Scam Ad The radio and television are filled with slick ads offering to pay off consumers’ credit card debt at half price in two to three years. Some of these ads even suggest that the companies are part of a federal bail-out program available only to financially strapped U.S. citizens. In reality, these companies, called debt settlers, are well documented scams that take in thousands of dollars from clients while catapulting that customer’s debt into the stratosphere. So fraudulent are these companies (which number over 2,000) that Attorneys General from 21 states, including New York, have filed 128 suits against them in the last five years. Such state policing efforts have brought attention to the problem, but done little to stop the growing industry. Indeed, a state can only ban a debt settler from operating within its borders, leaving an endless source of potential victims for the debt settler to rip off in the remaining 49 states.

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SILS Helps Pro Publica Expose Loan Modification Blame Game
Monday, 26 July 2010

thumb_joseph santStaten Island Legal Services Homeowner Defense Project Staff Attorney Joseph Sant was consulted for a Pro Publica article exploring a problem that is only too common for homeowners trying to participate in a federal program created to foster loan modifications and prevent foreclosures. Loan servicers claim that investors who own the mortgages won’t allow any modifications; however, Pro Publica's investigation reveals that in many cases, the servicers themselves are denying the modifications and then passing the buck.

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Language Help for City’s Immigrants Falls Short
Tuesday, 06 July 2010

A front page New York Times article examines the City's failure to comply with a July 2008 executive order requiring every New York City agency that dealt with the public to provide interpreters, translated documents and other language help to people who spoke little or no English. The order was supposed to help immigrant New Yorkers use services and navigate a daunting city bureaucracy as well as prevent the waste of time and money caused by miscommunication and misunderstanding. The Times talks to Legal Services NYC's Amy Taylor, Language Access Coordinator, about a August 2009 lawsuit filed by LS-NYC on behalf of 12 limited English proficient New Yorkers who have been injured by the City's failure. One of Amy's clients, Mercedes Cruz, discusses her own experience.

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Legal Services NYC Partners with Federal Pro Bono Program
Tuesday, 06 July 2010

DOJ Office of Justice Programs The Department of Justice announced on June 16 the launch of a New York City branch of the Federal Government Pro Bono Program, a DOJ-led effort to connect lawyers working for federal agencies with low-income Americans in need of legal help. In New York, Legal Services NYC has been selected as a partner and will work with federal lawyers on projects involving family law and domestic violence, child support, credit counseling and ID theft, wills and pro se assistance.

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