What We Do

Legal Services NYC-Bronx promotes economic justice, individual rights, and neighborhood stability by serving the individual and collective legal needs of low-income Bronx residents.   

 Economic Justice 

Our economic justice work is aimed at securing the maximum financial benefits available to our clients.  By helping people contest the termination of public benefits and ensuring that those who are eligible obtain disability benefits, tax benefits, and unemployment insurance, our work brings families from the brink of destitution to stability.  Low-income people burdened by debt or unlawfully obtained judgments are precluded from opportunities for economic advancement by their credit histories.  Our consumer work frees our clients of that burden.  These are the types of cases we do: 

• Lifting freezes on bank accounts with exempt income
• Obtaining debt relief
• Combatting deceptive consumer practices
• SSI appeals for people with disabilities
• Unemployment hearings and appeals
• Tax preparation and litigation
• Appeals of unfavorable decisions in public assistance hearings

Our legal system exists to protect and advance hard-won individual rights. Too often, the poor do not reap the benefits of that system, nonetheless it does exist to protect them.  Our work ensures that low-income people have equal access to the laws designed to prevent exploitation and promote equal treatment.  We ensure that children with special needs receive an equal and uninterrupted education, advance the rights of battered women or men in custody and divorce proceedings, obtain citizenship for eligible people, and fight for workplace fairness.  These are the types of cases we do:

• Defense in abuse and neglect proceedings
• Custody, divorce and Orders of Protection in cases involving domestic violence
• Accommodations in education for children with special needs
• Representation in educational suspension and termination hearings
• Fair Labor Standards Act violations
• Family Medical Leave Act violations
• U-visa applications for victims of domestic violence
• Citizenship applications

 Neighborhood Stability

The fabric of our community is threatened when families become homeless.  Homelessness and forced displacement and the resulting instability jeopardizes employment, education, and health.  Our work prevents displacement by preventing eviction and foreclosure. These are the types of cases we do: 

• Defense in non-payment proceedings in housing court
• Defense in holdover proceedings in housing court
• Group actions for repairs
• Applications for housing subsidies
• Challenges to subsidy terminations
• Group actions for repairs
• Interventions in multi-family foreclosures
• Assistance with loan modification applications
• Representation in foreclosure settlement conferences
• Representation in foreclosure litigation