Nila Natarajan Associate Director, Policy & Family Defense, in the Family Defense Practice testified before the NYC Council Committee on Children & Youth, calling for reforms to the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) to reduce harm caused by family policing practices. The testimony highlighted how poverty, not neglect, drives most ACS investigations and urged the City to invest in community-based resources that support families without surveillance or coercion.

The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, New York County Defender Services, and Queens Defenders, represented by pro bono counsel Selendy Gay PLLC, filed an amicus brief in support of the New York City Council and Public Advocate's lawsuit to invalidate Mayor Eric Adams’ emergency executive orders that suspended parts of Local Law 42 of 2024, which bans solitary confinement in city jails.

The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, and Milbank LLP filed a reply brief in its class action lawsuit against the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) concerning DOC’s failure to provide incarcerated New Yorkers access to medical care. The filing responds to DOC’s opposition brief and urges the court to find DOC in contempt, citing overwhelming evidence that DOC has failed to bring people to hundreds of thousands of medical appointments and regularly blocks incarcerated New Yorkers’ access to sick call.

Public interest attorneys in New York are urging Governor Hochul to allocate an additional $4 million to the state's loan forgiveness program in anticipation of potential federal cutbacks in 2025. This funding is crucial to ensure that legal services for low-income communities remain robust and effective.

We just released a report analyzing newly obtained performance data of the NYPD’s ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology. Our analysis confirms what we’ve long suspected - Shotspotter fails to make our communities safer, at the expense of increased surveillance and policing of Black and Latine neighborhoods and tens of millions of dollars.

Catherine Gonzalez, Supervising Attorney and Policy Counsel in the Padilla Unit of the Criminal Defense Practice called for the elimination of shelter stay limits and equitable access to housing subsidies to support immigrant New Yorkers in achieving stability.

Evan Ma, Staff Attorney in the Civil Justice Practice testified before The New York City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings to advocate for a slate of proposed laws that would help to empower and protect New Yorkers in vulnerable housing situations.

As reported in the Queens Eagle: Michael Klinger, Senior Jail Services Attorney & Advocate, "alleged that entire housing units had been deadlocked at one time and that detainees had to yell out of windows to neighboring housing units in order to alert others that someone was in need of medical attention."