24Jul 2023 by Charles E. Price
Abraham Leser’s 111 Livingston Delinquent on $120M Loan

Abraham Leser’s 111 Livingston Delinquent on $120M Loan

LEGAL
Abraham Leser's firm fell behind on debt payments at 111 Livingston Street after two tenants, Brooklyn Law School and the Legal Aid Society, went on rent strike and sued Leser over delayed maintenance at the Downtown Brooklyn office building. Court records indicate that months of back rent accumulated, possibly hindering the Leser Group's ability to service its debt. Leser became delinquent on the property's $120 million loan in May, then missed June's payment, Morningstar data shows. As of July, Morningstar marked the loan current but the debt remains watchlisted. Louis Solomon of Reed Smith, which is representing Leser in the lawsuit, confirmed that the loan is performing. “The normal operations between the bank and the company are fully in place,” Solomon wrote in an email. The building's occupancy rate dropped…
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23Jun 2023 by Charles E. Price
NYC Council urges Mayor Adams to increase funding for legal aid providers

NYC Council urges Mayor Adams to increase funding for legal aid providers

LEGAL
A majority of the City Council has signed a letter calling on Mayor Eric Adams to add at least $195 million for legal service providers to next year's budget, warning that the city-supported lawyers face a “funding crisis.”The letter, carrying signatures from 26 of the Council's 51 members, said local right-to-counsel providers and public defenders need salary increases to ensure free legal services are available to millions of New Yorkers who rely on them.The letter arrived as the left-leaning Council and the moderate major haggled over the municipal budget for the council-revenue-projections-more-mayor-adams-estimates-20230522-xn44h47x75bi5cl5u5oxaguqmq-story.html" data-ylk="slk:2024 fiscal year;elm:context_link;itc:0" class="link ">2024 fiscal year. The deadline for the city to adopt the budget falls at the end of the month.Support for legal service providers is a top priority for Council negotiators, said Councilman Shaun Abreu,…
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22Jun 2023 by Charles E. Price
Were you seen at 2023 Picturing Justice hosted by Legal Aid Society?

Were you seen at 2023 Picturing Justice hosted by Legal Aid Society?

LEGAL
Robert Dugan, Image for a CauseJune 20, 2023 Were you seen at Picturing Justice 2023 hosted by Legal Aid Society Northeastern New York held on June 14, 2023, in Albany, NY? Image for a Cause Were you Seen at the 2023 Picturing Justice Event hosted by the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York held on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, in Albany, NY? Image for a Cause Were you Seen at the 2023 Picturing Justice Event hosted by the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York held on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, in Albany, NY? Image for a Cause Were you Seen at the 2023 Picturing Justice Event hosted by the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York held on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, in Albany, NY? Image for a…
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14May 2023 by Charles E. Price
Legal Aid Caught Smuggling Weed Into NYC’s Rikers Island

Legal Aid Caught Smuggling Weed Into NYC’s Rikers Island

LEGAL
If you're trying to become a lawyer, sneaking contraband into Rikers Island isn't the best way to get started. The New York Post reports a Legal Aid Society staffer was busted for trying to smuggle weed and tobacco to a Rikers Island inmate. Thanks to a drug-sniffing dog, Tatyana King, who was posing as a lawyer, was charged with illegal possession of contraband in a prison. King was arrested while trying to visit Shyanne Patterson, an inmate accused of attempted murder. Riders Island guards searched her belongings and found bags of marijuana and tobacco. GlobalVillageSpace legal-aid-staff-caught-smuggling-weed-into-rikers-posing-as-lawyer-sources/">says she tricked correction officers last month and signed in as a staff lawyer for Legal Aid, New York's largest nonprofit legal aid, while visiting inmates, however, King wasn't assigned to Patterson's case. According to…
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13May 2023 by Charles E. Price
Legal Aid Society, housing advocates calling for more counsel funding

Legal Aid Society, housing advocates calling for more counsel funding

LEGAL
May 08, 2023, 9:18pmUpdated 4d agoBy: News 12 Staff The Legal Aid Society and housing advocates are coming together to demand more funding to help New Yorkers stay in their homes. Advocates want a city budget increase for the 'right to counsel' – which would provide free legal services to qualifying New Yorkers who are facing eviction. This comes as the rent increase proposed by the city's Rent Guidelines Board looms over the residents of rent-stabilized apartments. Nakeeb Siddique, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, says that there are about 120,000 eviction cases citywide filed in housing courts – and there are concerns that number will rise if increases are approved for the over two million New Yorkers in rent-controlled housing. “We have a huge tidal wave, or tsunami,…
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25Apr 2023 by Charles E. Price
Brooklyn woman, Legal Aid Society calls for better tenant protections

Brooklyn woman, Legal Aid Society calls for better tenant protections

LEGAL
Apr 21, 2023, 12:34amUpdated 4d agoAn East New York woman is in jeopardy of losing her home, and she and members of the Legal Aid Society are calling on Albany to put protections in place for tenants to not be victimized without good cause. The apartment has been home to Camey King for over a decade, and she received an eviction notice in March to vacate her apartment. She says her rent payments are on time, and that she only recently learned her home had a new landlord. The Legal Aid Society told News 12 that the home King lives in went into foreclosure back in 2016. According to a report filed in the foreclosure case, the new owner, SKZF 737 Mazel LLC, had purchased the property at 737 Alabama…
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21Mar 2023 by Charles E. Price
Public Defenders and legal service providers rallied for increased city funding

Public Defenders and legal service providers rallied for increased city funding

LEGAL
Nonprofit organizations providing legal services to low income New Yorkers rallied today at City Hall to call on the mayor to increase funding in the fiscal year 2024 budget. The Legal Aid Society, the Bronx Defenders, Neighborhood Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, Brooklyn Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and many other organizations providing civil and family legal services are seeking a $125 million from the city for criminal defense and at least a $300 million boost to civil legal services. They're also looking for $80 million for family legal services, up from the current $50 million.“By underfunding public defenders, Governor (Kathy) Hochul and Mayor Adams are tipping the scales of justice, one already weighted against the Black and Brown people disproportionately represented in our criminal and…
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26Feb 2023 by Charles E. Price
EvictionFreeMKE.org offers free legal help to those on verge of losing their rented homes

EvictionFreeMKE.org offers free legal help to those on verge of losing their rented homes

LEGAL
A screenshot of the automated EvictionFreeMKE.org tool.A new tool, EvictionFreeMKE.orgis offering Milwaukee residents the opportunity to connect with free legal help, rental assistance and other resources to reduce evictions.The new tool comes months after Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed a historic bill that established a Right to Counsel program in Milwaukee County.RELATED: Milwaukee County has established a Right to Counsel program. Here's why advocates say it could reduce evictionsThat program provides residents facing eviction the right to a free lawyer. This new tool helps connect people with those lawyers.Partners involved in creation of the tool include United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, Legal Action of Wisconsinthe City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County.The tool is part of the United Way's Safe and Stable…
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20Feb 2023 by Charles E. Price
1,000 Legal Aid workers in New York City hold walkout in contract struggle

1,000 Legal Aid workers in New York City hold walkout in contract struggle

LEGAL
Legal Aid and Legal Services workers, please contact us and tell us about your working conditions, what you think about the Legal Aid contract struggle and socialist Will Lehman's exposure and challenge to the UAW union election.New York Legal Aid attorneys protest (New York City Central Labor Council AFL-CIO Facebook) [Photo: New York City Central Labor Council AFL-CIO Facebook]One thousand Association of Legal Aid Attorneys conducted a one-hour strike and informational picket for a new contract last week on Wednesday, February 8. They chanted “two percent won't pay the rent” during lunch-hour pickets at Legal Aid Society offices in all five boroughs of New York City. The Legal Aid Society is a non-profit corporation operating in New York City, funded mostly by the city and state with some private donations.…
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13Feb 2023 by Charles E. Price
The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee relocates office to Hatcher Lane in Columbia

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee relocates office to Hatcher Lane in Columbia

LEGAL
The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands announced the opening of its relocated Columbia office at 1503 Hatcher Lane, Suite 105.Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, Tennessee's largest nonprofit law firm, announced today the opening of its relocated Columbia office at 1503 Hatcher Lane, Suite 105.The Columbia office's attorneys and legal services will continue unchanged in the new location, although additional staff may be joining in the near future. Previously, the office had been located at 1121 Trotwood Ave., Ste. 4.“The Legal Aid Society is proud to have been a part of the Columbia community for more than 40 years,” said Patricia Jones, lead attorney of the Columbia office. "In this new location, which is just a short drive away from our old offices,…
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