Legal Services NYC-Brooklyn Programs

Since 1967, our programs in Brooklyn—Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services, Legal Services NYC–Brooklyn Branch, and South Brooklyn Legal Services—have sought equal justice for low-income people in by providing a broad range of legal advocacy and information. In pursuing this goal, our offices work with individual clients and client groups to identify and address their legal needs, to help empower low-income people to identify and defeat the causes and effects of poverty in their communities, to focus on matters that will have the greatest impact for low-income people and to work in partnership with the private bar and with other agencies and organizations serving low-income people.

Areas of Priority and Special Projects Include:

• Housing
• Family
• Government Benefits
• HIV/AIDS
• Consumer
• Employment
• Health
• Education
• Rights of People with Disabilities
• Community Education & Empowerment
• Taxpayer Assistance
• Immigration
  
• Foreclosure Prevention
• Child Care

 
Locations:

South Brooklyn:

105 Court Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Tel: (718) 237-5500
Fax: (718) 855-0733

Central Brooklyn:

1360 Fulton Street, Suite 301
Brooklyn, New York 11216
Tel: (718) 636-1155
Fax: (718) 398-6414

Hon. Betty Staton, President

Betty Staton began her legal career as a staff attorney at Bedford Stuyvesant Community Legal Services (BSCLS). After that, she served as BSCLS’ Deputy Director of Community Outreach and Education. In that capacity, she developed curriculum in various areas of the law and trained non-lawyers to advocate and represent clients at administrative hearings. She also conducted outreach seminars at schools, senior centers, and youth centers. In 1987, she left BSCLS to become a founding partner in the law firm of Boyd Staton & Cave, the first African-American law firm in the State of New York.

In 1991, she was appointed by Mayor David Dinkins to New York State Family Court, Kings County. In 2001, she was reappointed to another ten year term by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and served until her mandatory retirement. After retiring, she briefly served as Interim Executive Director of BSCLS until a permanent director was hired. In 2006, she returned to the Family Court to serve as a Judicial Hearing Officer. She became Executive Director as BSCLS in June 2011, and was appointed as President of our combined Brooklyn programs in 2012.

Meghan Faux, Acting Project Director

Meghan Faux was appointed Acting Project Director of the combined Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services, Legal Services NYC–Brooklyn Branch, and South Brooklyn Legal Services programs in 2012. Ms. Faux has been advocating for low-income Brooklyn residents since 1999, when she received an Equal Justice Fellowship to work at Brooklyn Legal Services Corp. A in Williamsburg. Ms. Faux has represented parents of children in foster care, victims of domestic violence in family law, matrimonial and immigration proceedings, and low-income homeowners facing foreclosure. Ms. Faux was the director of the Foreclosure Prevention Project from 2008 to 2012 and the Deputy Director of South Brooklyn Legal Services from 2011 until she became Acting Project Director.. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999.