First of all, check out all opportunities. Secondly, free legal advice in New York doesn not exactly mean that you have to be low-income person or family. Depends on your legal case, but many legal clinics don't have income requirements. Some legal aid providers have 200% and below of federal poverty level. Anyway remember that free lawyer is not exception in New York. Free legal services is reality in New York City and State of New York.
There are many organizations providing free legal advice in New York and Legal Services NYC is one of them.
Each year, Legal Services NYC utilizes more than 2,000 pro bono volunteers from nearly 100 law firms and corporations. These volunteers collectively impact more than 7,000 low-income people, and donate more than 70,000 hours annually. Volunteers secure more than $7M annually for clients in settlements, benefits, and debt discharge. In addition to placing impact cases, LSNYC's pro bono program serves individual clients across nearly all of our civil practice areas - including immigration, family, education, employment, benefits, trusts & estates, consumer, LGBTQ/HIV, veterans, and housing. In addition to individual placements, LSNYC holds approximately 70 clinics and "study groups" each year that collectively serve more than 1,000 low-income clients.
LSNYC has thousands of active individual cases placed with law firms and corporations. LSNYC provides training, supervision, and technical support, while pro bono partners take the lead on the cases. Pro bono opportunities are organized by area of law. Our pro bono initiatives include immigration, consumer, housing, benefits, family, education, and tax. To explore, click on the menu at right under "taking cases".
LSNYC also runs approximately 70 legal clinics each year with law firms and volunteers from corporations. Many clinics involve an initial meeting with clients for full representation on their cases. Others provide limited scope assistance, primarily by conducting enhanced screening for clients that LSNYC may then determine whether and in what capacity to represent them. LSNYC also regularly offers "study groups" which are similar to clinics and involve a training and bulk placement of cases with a law firm and/or corporate partner, but with teams scheduling individual meetings the same week as the clinic. Our clinics and study groups include: asylum; naturalization; U-Visa; VAWA Self Petition/Battered Spouse Waiver; adjustment of status for green card holders; transgender name changes; and housing repair/anti-tenant harassment. To explore our clinical and study group offerings, click on the menu at right under "clinics and study groups".
