The Legal Aid Society is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

legal aid provider based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of

legal aid in the United States Legal aid in the United States is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system in the United States. In the US, legal aid provisions are different for criminal law and civil la ...

. Its attorneys provide representation on

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

and civil matters in both individual cases and

class action lawsuits A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...

. The organization is funded through a combination of public grants and private donations. It is the largest recipient of funding among regional legal aid providers from the

New York City government The government of New York City, headquartered at New York City Hall in Lower Manhattan, is organized under the New York City Charter and provides for a mayor-council system. The mayor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for the ad ...

and is the city's primary legal services provider.

History and leadership

The Legal Aid Society was founded in 1876 in New York to defend the individual rights of German immigrants who could not afford to hire a lawyer. A large donation from the

Rockefeller Family The Rockefeller family () is an American industrial, political, and banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the American petroleum industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by broth ...

in 1890 enabled the organization to expand its services and include individuals from every background. It was renamed the New York Legal Aid Society in 1890. The society is governed by a board of directors. On December 2, 2010, Richard J. Davis was elected chairman of the board.

Presidents

*Alan Levine, president 2019 to present *Blaine V. (Fin) Fogg, president from 2009 to 2019. *

Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...

, third president beginning 1916. *

Arthur von Briesen Arthur von Briesen (26 September 1891 – 15 May 1981) was a Generalmajor in the Wehrmacht during World War II. Biography Arthur von Briesen was born in Metz, in Alsace-Lorraine, at the time part of the German Empire. He began his military ...

, second president from 1890 to 1916.

Attorneys-in-Chief

* Twyla Carter, beginning August 1, 2022. Carter is the first Black woman and first Asian-American to lead the organization. *Janet Sabel, January 2, 2019, to June 1, 2022. *Seymour W. James, Jr., July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2018. *Steven Banks, 2004 to March 31, 2014. *Daniel L. Greenberg, 1994 to 2004. * Archibald R. Murray, 1975 to 1994. * Cornelius Porter Kitchel, 1905 to 1906. He was the sixth attorney-in-chief. * Charles K. Lexow, beginning 1876. He was the first attorney-in-chief.

Services

The Legal Aid Society provides a range of civil legal services, as well as criminal defense work, and juvenile representation in

Family Court Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plainti ...

. The organization's primary purpose is to provide free legal assistance to New Yorkers who live at or below the poverty level and cannot afford to hire a lawyer when confronted with a legal problem. It handles more than 200,000 indigent criminal cases every year, serves as attorneys to more than 30,000 children and represents families, individuals and community groups in more than 30,000 cases. Legal Aid also conducts major

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

litigation on behalf of thousands of welfare recipients, foster children, homeless families, elderly poor, inmates at

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has ...

and other prisoners. The Legal Aid Society is the city's primary provider of criminal legal aid

contract attorney A contract attorney is a lawyer who works on legal cases on a contract basis. Such work is generally of a temporary nature, often with no guaranteed employment term. A contract attorney is Civil litigation The work of contract attorneys often ...

s, along with New York County Defender Services in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Brooklyn Defender Services Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, beh ...

in Brooklyn,

Bronx Defenders The Bronx Defenders is a public defender office located in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City. At the Bronx Defenders, criminal defense lawyers work together with civil lawyers, family defense lawyers, immigration lawyers, non-attorney ...

in the Bronx,

Queens Law Associates Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

in Queens, and the

Neighborhood Defender Service A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area ...

in northern Manhattan. For

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2014, Legal Aid handled 225,776 cases for $102.5 million in compensation from the city (an average of $454 per case).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Legal Aid Society, The Legal advocacy organizations in the United States Organizations established in 1876 Non-profit organizations based in New York City Criminal defense organizations New York (state) state courts 1876 establishments in New York (state) Public defense institutions Legal aid in the United States