| Legal Support Unit |
The Legal Support UnitThe Legal Support Unit (LSU) of Legal Services NYC helps to develop and improve the quality and impact of the legal services provided by our advocates and those in other poverty law advocacy programs throughout the City. We do this through work in five main areas:
LSU staff are based both full- and part-time at 350 Broadway. Location:
350 Broadway, 6th Floor
Raun Rasmussen, Chief of Litigation and Advocacy
Legal Support Unit Staff Directory Continuing Legal Education and TrainingEach year, the LSU presents more than 100 classes as part of our Continuing Legal Education and training program for non-lawyer advocates. Visit our Learning Center to find out more about low cost training courses and materials offered in a variety of formats, both electronic and in classroom settings. Practice Areas and Projects at the Legal Support UnitBankruptcy Assistance ProjectThe New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project (NYC-BAP) provides free bankruptcy assistance to low-income residents of New York City who need relief from crippling debt burdens. We help people through weekly bankruptcy workshops, in which debtors meet with attorneys to learn about, and be assessed for, bankruptcy. When appropriate we help debtors prepare and file Chapter 7 bankruptcy petitions. In addition, NYC-BAP finds pro bono (volunteer) attorneys for unrepresented debtors in the bankruptcy courts. Click here to learn more about NYC-BAP. Contact: William Kransdorf Disability LawLegal Services NYC's Disability Advocacy Project (DAP) helps low income disabled children and adults get Social Security disability benefits and move off welfare. Currently, thousands of adults and children remain on City welfare rolls when they should instead receive federal disability benefits. Most of these individuals receive no help in applying for federal disability assistance. Our program has improved the lives of low-income New Yorkers by representing scores of adults and children who have been wrongly denied Social Security benefits. Click here to learn more about the Disability Advocacy Project. Contact: Ann Biddle Education LawLS-NYC’s education units advocate for special education students with the Department of Education, and at impartial hearings and federal court, and represent students in school discipline proceedings. Click here to learn more about our Education Law work. Contact: Caroline Kearney Family LawIn the area of family law, LS-NYC provides interdisciplinary representation to victims of domestic violence in obtaining divorces, orders of protection, custody, and child support and works to keep families together by representing parents in Family Court who are charged with child neglect and abuse. Contact: Caroline Kearney Foreclosure PreventionThrough our Foreclosure Prevention Projects, Legal Services NYC is at the forefront of the national fight against predatory lending practices in the subprime lending market. Legal Services NYC attorneys provide legal advice and representation to homeowners; provide advice and assistance to community-based organizations on specific cases; and help to coordinate and provide training for foreclosure prevention advocates throughout the City. Click here to learn more about our Foreclosure Prevention Projects and where to access them. Contact: Meghan Faux and Jacob Inwald Government BenefitsLegal Services NYC provides legal advice, representation and training in matters relating to Public Assistance, Food Stamp and Medicaid benefits. Advocates in our local offices help clients through center based advocacy and representation in courts and administrative tribunals. Contact: Tanya Wong HIV AdvocacyOur HIV attorneys and paralegals assist HIV-positive individuals with housing issues, such as evictions and the need for repairs; public benefits issues, including HASA, SSI, food stamps and Medicaid; family issues, such as foster care and guardianship; wills and health care proxies; discrimination based on HIV status; and breach of confidentiality. Contact: Cathy Bowman Housing LawLS-NYC housing attorneys represent tenants faced with eviction in Housing Court and in administrative hearings; work with community-based organizations to help tenants improve housing conditions; and work to preserve affordable housing through litigation and other advocacy. The Legal Support Unit maintains a web site for housing practitioners at http://www.probono.net/ny/housing. Contact: Edward Josephson and David Robinson Immigration LawLS-NYC provides free consultation and representation to immigrants in the following areas: Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (self petitions to adjust legal status for undocumented victims of domestic violence); U visas (for crime victims); Naturalization Applications and Appeals; Green Card and Work Permit Renewals; and Family Based Immigration Petitions. In all our immigration work, we partner with neighborhood-based immigrant advocacy and service organizations and provide language access services where needed to ensure that our clients are well served. Click here to learn more about our Immigration work. Contact: Audrey Carr Language AccessIn response to the unprecedented growth in the size and diversity of New York City’s immigrant population – half of all New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home, and almost one-sixth of all City households have difficult speaking English – Legal Services NYC created a Language Access Project in 2006. Its priorities are to increase our capacity to serve Limited English Proficient (LEP) clients and to engage in legal advocacy challenging the language barriers that LEP clients face in getting benefits, services and access to justice. In 2007, the Language Access Coordinator released a report, Translation Woes: Language Barriers at New York City’s Human Resources Administration, detailing barriers Limited English Proficient clients face in accessing benefits at NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) offices. Contact: Amy Taylor
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