Fighting for you, your family & our community.
Criminal, Family, Immigration and Civil Defense.
Free of charge.
Health & Safety Alert
At the current time, BDS’ physical offices are open by appointment only. If you are a current client of BDS, contact your lawyer, social worker, or other staff for an appointment. If you are not a current client and need assistance, click here to get help.
We work, in and out of court, to protect and uphold the rights of individuals and to change laws and systems that perpetuate injustice and inequality.
Brooklyn Defender Services
is a public defense office that provides outstanding representation and advocacy to people facing loss of freedom, family separation and other serious legal harms.
Our Commitment
Defend People and Society
As defenders, we represent people accused of a crime, parents threatened with child removal, immigrants facing deportation, and students, workers and tenants whose education, employment and housing are at risk due to legal cases. We are the attorneys and advocates fighting injustice for individuals and families and protecting civil rights for all people.
Demand Accountability
Brooklyn residents are harmed and impacted by government policies and practices that fuel mass incarceration and the destruction of families. These lead to tragic outcomes, such as death at the hands of police or in jail and oppressive environments in schools and neighborhoods where low-income people of color live. We demand accountability from government institutions in court and work to reduce the government's reliance on harmful legal systems to address problems caused by poverty and racism.
Fight to Keep Families Together
Whether it is the removal of children, incarceration, deportation, eviction or houselessness, the people we represent face long periods of forced family separation. This destroys the fabric of multiple lives and leaves long-lasting effects on children, parents, spouses, grandparents and siblings. We fight to protect New Yorkers from the trauma of separation from their loved ones and to reunite families as soon as possible.
Support our Community
We serve the Brooklyn community by providing individual services to thousands of people each year, holding clinics and educational programs in our community office and online, and supporting fellow community organizations. We work alongside people harmed by unfair systems to fight injustice and change things for the better.
Spearheaded by Our Staff
BDS attorneys, social workers, paralegals, investigators and administrative professionals have an unwavering commitment to the people we represent.