Legal Services NYC history

Resisting management’s 1979 push to consolidate borough offices, MFY staff member Bob Hartman told a newspaper “If legal services is worth anything at all, it’s worth it on a storefront basis… You get a feel for the neighborhood, for the problems on the street.

The attached excerpt is from a 1986 letter to SBLS Project Director Chip Gray, in a demand that SBLS hire more attorneys of color.

In 1993, management went back to demanding givebacks, including an attempt to undo the new step system of wages and to significantly reduce health care benefits.

In 1998, in response to New York State’s adoption of a mandatory continuing legal education requirement for attorneys, our Legal Support Unit became a state-accredited provider of Certified Legal Education (CLE) and now provides CLE training to over 2,500 individuals each year.

In 2000, Dwight became political director of the UAW’s Region 9A, which includes New York, and the presidency of NOLSW was taken over by Ellen Wallace from Boston.

In 2002, two of the largest programs, Bronx Legal Services and MFY Legal Services disassociated from LSNY. Bronx Legal Services did not survive, and its entire staff was absorbed into a new integrated program, LSNY Bronx.

The fiscal, administrative, and technology staff at Central, who had not been categorized as eligible for the union, gained union eligibility, rights, and benefits through the 2006 contract negotiations.

In 2009, LSNYC put forward an explosive new policy memo intended to provide guidance to borough Project Directors on how to improve the quality and impact of their legal work.

Prior to same-sex marriage becoming legal in New York in 2011, LGBTQ staff members whose partners were on their health insurance had to pay an additional tax on the value of the health insurance coverage their partner received.