Legal Assistance

The City Bar Justice Center Legal Hotline offers legal information, advice and referrals to low-income New Yorkers who cannot afford a private attorney or do not have access to legal representation. The Hotline assists on a range of civil legal issues, including matrimonial and family law, housing law, domestic violence, bankruptcy, and debt collection and benefits. The service is bilingual, in English and Spanish, and can handle calls in any language through interpreting services. They also offer an online application for assistance on their website.

HIAS is dedicated to ensuring that refugees know their rights, have access to legal aid, and that their host countries recognize their right to security. This includes preserving family unity in refuge, as well as the right to work, to medical attention, and for children to attend school – all the things that help them maintain their human dignity. They help refugees apply to countries around the world for resettlement. However, due to the small number of available slots, resettlement is typically approved only for the most vulnerable: women who are heads of households from cultures where men traditionally serve as protectors, orphaned or separated children, persecuted LGBT people, or survivors of torture. Additionally, we provide free legal representation for artists, scientists, scholars, and other professionals and their families who have been persecuted in their native country and who seek asylum in the United States through our Prins Program. Languages spoken: English, Russian, Spanish.

The Immigrant Defense Project promotes fundamental fairness for immigrants accused or convicted of crimes by working to transform unjust deportation laws and policies and educating and advising immigrants, their criminal defenders, and other advocates. IDP provides the only free criminal immigration hotline in the country. They offer criminal immigration analyses to criminal defenders, immigration advocates, and immigrants and their loved ones. They also provide information for immigrants related to criminal convictions on their website here: http://immigrantdefenseproject.org/resources/legal-resources They serve all boroughs.

Legal Services NYC has various offices. This office, the Legal Support Unit, has the following Practice Areas and Projects for low-income NYC residents: the New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project (NYC BAP) provides free bankruptcy assistance; the Disability Advocacy Project (DAP) helps disabled children and adults get Social Security disability benefits and move off welfare; the education unit advocates for/represents special education students; Family law: representation to victims of domestic violence in obtaining divorces, orders of protection, custody, child support, and child neglect and abuse; the Foreclosure Prevention Project provides legal advice and representation to homeowners; Government benefits: provides legal advice, representation and training in matters relating to Public Assistance, Food Stamp and Medicaid benefits; help for HIV-positive individuals with issues related to housing, public benefits and more; Housing: representing tenants faced with eviction; Immigration issues such as Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), U visas (for crime victims) and more. See http://www.legalservicesnyc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&i… for more information.

Manhattan Legal Services represents and advises low-income residents of Manhattan who need help with civil legal problems in the areas of housing law, government benefits, Supplemental Security Income/Social Security, unemployment, family law (including domestic violence), employment law, immigration law, consumer and education law. In addition to these core civil legal services, Manhattan Legal Services’ special projects include the East Side SRO (Single Room Occupancy) Law Project, the Disability Advocacy Project, a general litigation HIV Unit, and a nationally recognized Domestic Violence Unit.

NYLAG helps victims of domestic violence in NYC with holistic representation in cases of divorce, custody, adoption, visitation, and spousal and child support. NYLAG also provides help on general civil legal issues including consumer credit, elder law, employment law, foreclosure prevention, housing, and public benefits cases, including disability, food stamps, home care, Medicaid/Medicare. NYLAG helps immigrants with citizenship, legal residency, work authorizations, visas, removal defense, public benefits and community outreach. There are additional legal services provided in additional areas of law. To see all of the services provided, go to http://nylag.org/units

They provide family-based immigration services including one-on-one legal consultations and application assistance on issues such as: adjustment of legal status, filing for citizenship and naturalization and family-based petitions. Provides services in English and Spanish.

Sanctuary for Families provides domestic violence victims, sex trafficking victims, and their children with a range of comprehensive services. These services are provided in four boroughs; Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. Some of the services that are offered are clinical services, legal services (including family law, matrimonial law, and immigration law and more), shelter services and children’s programs, etc. Services are also provided in Spanish. This office is in a confidential location.

Provides services to NYC youth, aged 12 to 21. They help to provide legal services to the following people: recent immigrants, undocumented immigrants (living in the United States without the proper paperwork), those currently in deportation proceedings; people in foster care; pregnant or caring for a child; homeless and/or living without your parents, or people having issues with their landlord; in need of public benefits, such as Section 8 housing, food stamps, Medicaid or welfare, Social Security, etc. They also help people in need of help with family law issues such as paternity, child support, domestic violence, child custody and visitation rights; people being victimized or stalked; those in need of proper forms of personal identification, such as a birth certificate, passport, non-driver’s license, etc. To see a list of other (non-legal) services provided, see here: http://www.door.org/programs-services