Contacts: Rita Cant and James McCormick.

The Brooklyn Detention Center Assistance Project partners with New York Department of Corrections to provide direct services. BDCAP offers students who have completed Criminal Law the unique opportunity to serve a prison population on-site, advising pretrial detainees on legal references and materials in the jail library, helping detainees complete New York State court forms, locating the relevant law to support detainees’ legal arguments, and teaching detainees how to perform legal research on Lexis Nexis terminals.

Contact:  Natalie Serra, Amy Drever, and Emily Brandes, Co-Chairs.

The Courtroom Advocates Project assists victims of domestic violence seeking orders of protection in New York City family courts.  Students help domestic violence survivors file petitions and maintain contact as necessary to ensure that the petitioner returns for his or her next court date.  Students may also advocate for the petitioner before the judge on their return date.

Contacts: Aditya Ranade and Dana Brady, Co-Chairs

The Consumer Debtor Defense Project provides Brooklyn Area Consumer Debtors with much needed Representation in the King's County Civil Court, especially against the practices of Third-Party Debt Buyers and Predatory Lenders.

Contacts: Jana Hymowitz and Adam Kubota, Co-Chairs

With the Family Court Help Center, students assist pro se litigants as they navigate the family court system.  Students help parents to fill out child support modification forms on the court’s online system.  Through the Civil Court Help Center, students inform low-income tenants and small landlords of their rights in housing court and the eviction process. Students will explain service of process, how to fill out legal forms, and how to access non-court resources.

Contact: Cassidy Merriam and Kevin Cooper, Co-Chairs

CLARO is a student organization dedicated to educating the Brooklyn Law School community about the legal issues surrounding the burgeoning field of consumer debt. CLARO offers the opportunity to learn about consumer debt issues and New York civil practice while helping unrepresented litigants and interacting with practicing attorneys and fellow Law School students.

Contacts: Alison Malloy and Melissa Martin, Co-Chairs.

The Education Law and Policy Society is a student-run organization that aims to raise awareness, advance dialogue and encourage advocacy in issues related to education law.  We do so by connecting like-minded Brooklyn Law School students, facilitating roundtable discussions with education law professionals and organizing pro bono activities.  We intend to harness the energy surrounding school reform and the burgeoning charter school movement and envision creative roles that attorneys can play in furthering the goals of education equity.

Contacts: Diana Rosenthal and Peter Travitsky, Co-Chairs

E-L-G provides education, support, and aid to seniors and guardianship petitioners who face these issues from their unique perspectives.  Working alongside attorneys as part of the Volunteer Lawyers Project, students will be trained to give presentations about advance medical directives, types of guardianships, the guardianship process, and the responsibilities of guardians.  Students will assist in drafting documents such as healthcare proxies and guardianship petitions.

Contacts: Yekaterina Blinova, Co-Chair

FHRAP is a student-run organization devoted to developing the clinical legal skills of BLS students through work with public benefits recipients.  Participants will gain valuable hands-on experience in client representation within the administrative law context while providing crucial services to disadvantaged clients.

Contacts: John Runne and Caitlin Proper, Co-Chairs.

The Foreclosure Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) is a partnership between the students of Brooklyn Law School, the BLS Pro-Bono Office, the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project, South Brooklyn Legal Services and Kings County Supreme Court.  It is the mission of FLAG to assist homeowners in Kings County facing foreclosure by offering them complete and accurate information regarding the foreclosure process.  FLAG offers a unique opportunity for students to learn about foreclosure law and to help residents of Brooklyn understand their legal rights and obligations during this very difficult period.

Contact: Beile Lindner and Nura Skaden, Co-Chairs

This group's role is to raise awareness about homeless rights issues in New York City, and is affiliated with the Homeless Appellant Rights Project pro bono project (HARP), which is operated in conjunction with Project FAIR and the Legal Aid Society's Homeless Rights Project.  HARP volunteers provide critical advice to homeless families appealing the City's denial of their applications for shelter.

Contacts:Becky McBride, President.

The Immigration Court Observation Project (ICOP) is committed to providing an objective evaluation of the due process afforded to immigrants during deportation adjudication hearings at New York City immigration courts. ICOP performs this service through diligent observation of proceedings and accurate reporting, with the specific purpose of identifying any structural problems endemic to the adjudication system. 

Contacts: Sarah Udashkin, Co-chair

Students with the Immigrant Visa Assistance Project assist immigrant crime victims with their U-visa affidavits. U-visas are a form of immigration relief available to victims of enumerated crimes who have cooperated with law enforcement. This project provides students with the opportunity to interview clients, write affidavits, and learn practical lawyering skills related to immigration practice. 

Contacts: Ryan Marcus and Daniel Floros, Co-Chairs.

Law Students for Veterans' Rights represents veterans and active service members through the Veteran Advocacy Project (VAP) at the Urban Justice Center and via the law firm of Cutler & Parlatore, PLLC.  LSVR members working with VAP assist veterans with eviction prevention, VA claims and denial of benefits such as SSI/SSD, Medicaid and food stamps.  We provide FAIR hearing advocacy trainings, and members have the opportunity to represent their own clients at FAIR hearings throughout NYC.  1L members have the opportunity, twice each semester, to assist attorneys from several major firms at the City Bar Justice Center's Veterans' Legal Intake.

Contact: brooklynnlg@gmail.com.

The Legal Observer program is part of the comprehensive legal support coordinated by the NLG to ensure people can express their political views without unconstitutional disruption or interference by the government.  Legal Observers work with NLG attorneys who represent individual activists and political organizations.  They are trained to witness and document police actions, violations of rights, and arrests, and to provide factual information for evaluation by attorneys.

Contacts:  Kathryn Hensley.

The LGBT Legal Assistance Project is devoted to serving the local LGBTQ community. The project aims to provide assistance on a broad range of legal issues impacting the LGBTQ community of modest means whether such issues turn directly upon one’s sexual orientation/identity or not. The LGBT Legal Assistance Project will consist primarily of a walk-in legal clinic held on a bi-weekly basis.  Students will assist practicing attorneys in conducting intakes, interviewing and providing critical legal information and referrals to clients.

Contacts: John Moore and Kendall Sale, Co-Presidents .

MYLE is dedicated to helping youth from underserved communities to compete in debates, develop academic and presentation skills, and pursue a legal education.  In association with Legal Outreach, a local not-for-profit organization, MYLE members coach local high school students. The high school students compete in four constitutional law debates throughout the year and law students join attorney mentors in judging.  Many law firms and attorneys are involved with Legal Outreach for pro bono. There are many networking opportunities available to Legal Outreach coaches.

Contacts: Mary Bruch.

The NLG-NYC Street Law Team is a group of law students from various New York City law schools who travel to schools, workplaces, and other locations to present workshops titled, “Know Your Rights: What to Do if You’re Stopped by the Police.” During workshops, law students give practical advice for getting through a police encounter safely and calmly, explain constitutional rights and why they are important, learn to answer tough questions, and lead role-playing exercises. 

Contact: Sarah DeVita.

The Resilience Advocacy Projects’ Youth Leadership Empowerment and Advocacy Project (Youth LEAP) is a free, yearlong program serving low-income high school students from under-resourced schools throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan.  The program trains these young people to become “peer advocates” for other teens in their communities, providing legal rights information and basic referrals for critical anti-poverty social services like health care and tutors.  Law students teach Youth LEAP participants about NYC government, constitutional and poverty law, and advocacy skills in 2-hour workshops.

Contacts: Anna Park.

The Second Chance Project helps parents with a finding of neglect on their record to move forward.  Students will help clients of the Brooklyn Family Defense Project to request and conduct fair hearings to amend their record with the State Central Registry, and to file motions to vacate neglect findings or request suspended judgments so their record does not limit their employment opportunities.

Contact: Leslie (Lee) Wellington and Benjamin Stark, Co-Chairs.

The Street Vendor Pro Bono Project is a partnership between Brooklyn Law School and the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center, a nonprofit organization that advocates for a more equitable environment for vending in New York City.  Participants analyze violations against vendors issued by the Department of Health, the Parks Department and the Police Department, and defend the vendors before the Environmental Control Board.

Contacts: Danielle Levine and Martin Schubert, Co-Chairs.

The Suspension Representation Project (formerly the Student Education Advocacy Project) is an advocacy group dedicated to ensuring the educational rights of New York City public school students.  SRP gives law students the opportunity to represent K-12 students at their Superintendent’s Suspension hearing. Students facing a Superintendent’s Suspension are often unrepresented at their hearings and lack the information they need to challenge the charges brought against them.  Our goal is to work with students and their families to develop a case to keep them in school.

Contacts: Jessica Peck and Dominic Saglibene, Co-Chairs.

Through the Uncontested Divorce Project, students work in partnership with Sanctuary for Families or the Brooklyn Bar Volunteer Lawyers Project.  Through Sanctuary for Families, students are assigned a client and then conduct interviews, prepare divorce petitions, file the court papers, and meet with clients to follow-up.  Through the Brooklyn Bar Volunteer Lawyers Project, students assist clients in pro se uncontested divorces, aiding their clients from initiation of their uncontested divorce through entry of judgment. 

Contacts: Evan Hasbrook, Chair.

The Unemployment Action Center is a non-profit, student-run organization devoted to the representation of unemployment insurance claimants in New York City.  Members gain valuable hands-on legal experience by advising and representing clients before administrative judges at the New York Department of Labor.

Contacts: Megan Cuccia.

VITA volunteers assist low-income taxpayers in filing their income taxes to ensure that they get the tax credits to which they are entitled, avoid predatory tax preparers’ practices, and get prompt refunds and other financial services.  In the past BLS students have provided a critical boost to low-income working families in our neighborhood, putting as much as $300,000 back into the community through this program.