the legal aid society 2006 annual report - Legal

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the legal aid society
2006
annual report
Leslie A Abbey, Katherine A Adler, Samantha E Adomaitis, David B Affler, Michelle S Agdomar, Shailly P Agnihotri, Amy S Albert, Natalie Albert, Todd Albert, Elisa A
Albo, George W Albro, Esperanza Alcarese, Michael Alcarese, Myra Alcarese, Melissa Alejandro, Rita S Alejandro, Gary A Alexion, Ronald Alfano, Marianne T Allegro,
Zoe G Allen, Juan C Alonzo, Harriett Altholz, Yakub Aminov, Ayisha A Amjad, Carlos M Anazagasty, Mary E Anderson, Sharon A Anderson, Tareek A Anderson, Melinda
L. Andra, Alison Andruszkewicz, Megan E Annitto, Jojo Annobil, Carmine Annunziato, Bahar Ansari, Kenneth Ansley, Sonia Antonetti, Jose Aponte, Solmerina Aponte,
Ruth S Appadoo-Johnson, Rigodis T Appling, Noha M Arafa, Jennifer G Arons, William C Artus, Ann R Ascher, Daniel S Ashworth, Afua A Atta-Mensah, John Audain,
Edward J Auffant, Lynda Augente, Germaine A Auguste, Garrett L Austin, Elenor Wendy Austrie, Amy K Avila, Alan S Axelrod, Jose Ayala, Maria F Ayora, Carly L
Baetz-Stangel, Susan C Bahn, Sharon D Bailey, Tejinder S Bains, Allison M Baker, Japheth T Baker, Buffy Maria Baldridge, Michael T Baldwin, Vanda E Ballard,
Steven R Banks, William S Banks, Erin M Bannister, Priscilla Barbot, Shyleur Barrack, Eric Barreto, Elizabeth Barroso, Peter A Barta, Richard W Barton, Jessica E
Bash, Patricia A Bath, Howard J Baum, Jennifer Baum, Lizzie-Anne Beal, Sakeena Beaulieu, Marka S Belinfanti, Jerilyn L Bell, Valerie P Bell-Bey, Christine L Bella,
Franklin D Belle, Jessica Bellinder, Bernard Bellinger, Ruthlyn C Belnavis, Joshua A Benjamin, Fredric Bennett, Stephen M Bennett, Timothy J Bennett, Michelle M
Benoit, Marisa Benton, Harry Berberian, Juan C Beritan, Steven R Berko, Jeffrey Berman, Jerrold Berman, Matthew J Berman, Simone Berman-Rossi, James A
Bernal, Jamie N Bernstein, Lillian Berrios, Joyce Betances, Abby I Biberman, Charles B Billups, Tracey A Bing-Hampson, Nicole P Bingham, Barbara C Blake, Charles
H Blakeley, Faith Bland, Jennifer R Blasser, Rosetta C Blount, Evanjeline Blue, Richard E Blum, Joshua M Blumenfeld, Jane Sujen Bock, Sarah Fleisch Bodack,
Marlen S Bodden, Silvana Boggia, William D Boggs, Anna V Boksenbaum, Thomas F Bomba, Sharon Bomzer, Bonnie A Bonica, David E Boone, Robert J Bornstein,
John Boston, Heidi Bota, Jessica M Botticelli, Evelyn J Bovell, Norah E Bowler, Laura D Boyd, Precious S Boyd, Cormac S Boyle, Katherine L Bradley, Adrienne
Branch, Carol S Braund, Edward Braunstein, Bonnie C Brennan, Kathleen M Brennan, Suroujlal Bridgelal, Melissa J Briggs, Kamber L Brisbane, Mitchell J Briskey,
Christine A Brito, Dolores Britt, Kissa Broadie, J Lorch Brooks, Darren C Brown, James W Brown, Kenya D Brown, Violet L Brown, Gretchen Brownscheidle, Ilissa R
Brownstein, Kristin A Bruan, Courtney A Bryan, Sharon D Bryant, Marjorie R Bryson, Rosemary Buckmon, Robert J Budner, Desiree J Buenzle, Roulston Bumbury,
Vanessa M Burdick, Regina M Burgio, Carmen G Burgos, Thomas J Burrows, Katherine A Burton, Susan G Butani, Jane H Byrialsen, Barbara Byrne, Edmund J
Byrnes, Luis A Caballero, Pedro Caban, Harry Cadet, Kristen Calabrese, Elisabeth R Calcaterra, Yolande Calder, Reinaldo Calderon, Anne K Callagy, Glenda
Callender, Irma M Camacho, Sonia Cancel-Ortiz, Alan M Canner, Eneida S Carbonell, Camille K Carey, Helena Carmona, William B Carney, Bruce A Carpenter, Carol
A Carter, Connie Carter, Bernette Carway-Spruiell, Olivia L Cassin, Iris D Castellanos, Victor S Castelli, Nancy E Cavaluzzi, Keith J Cavet, Ana Cecilio, Ferdinand
Cesarano, Cara A Chambers, Lorna Chan, Peter Chapman, Juan Charbonier, Richard M Charney, Jonathan S Chasan, Susan H Chase, Abida S Chaudhry, Steven
M Chavez, Jonathan B Chazen, Catherine Chen, Charlie Cheng, Phyllis S Cherebin, Vanessa D Cherena, Toe-Fun Chia, Maria J Chiu, James Chubinsky, Javier
Chuck, Erica G Cioffero, Paul A Clark, David C Clarke, James O Clayton, Thomas J Cleary, William Cleary, Susan J Clement, Vilma Roxanne Clerge, Bryan J Coakley,
Peter v Z Cobb, Antonia Codling, Dana J Cohen, Emily J Cohen, Matthew B Cohen, Steven J Cohen, Jennifer I Cohn, Patricia S Colella, Alexis C Collentine, Charles
D Collier, Tara A Collins, Esperanza Colon, George C Colon, Jiovani Colon, Maria C Colon, Joann Colon-Cimino, Cynthia Colt, Johari L Commodore, Elaine V Conklin,
Gary R Conroy, Megan E Conroy, Claudia C Conway, Emma D Cooper-Serber, Jordan C Copeland, Virginia Cora-Gabriel, Mark L Coron, Antoinette Costanzo, William
Cotto, Joyce Couvares, Stephen Coyne, Daniela E Crespo, David A Crow, Victor G Cruz, Juanita Cruz-Cataquet, Alexandria R Cubbage, Meghan Cuomo, Seth T
Curkin, Thomas V Curtis, Selene D’Alessio, Nicole M D’Orazio, Olayinka Dan-Salami, Dawn Dapelo, Jacques L David, Ellen B Davidson, Terence S Davidson, Edgar
Davila, Nora M Davila, Patricia I Davis, Stephanie B Davis, Genitha Davis-Wint, Lauren J De Bellis, Teresa K De Fonso, Francesca De Graff, Francisco De Jesus,
Jason H De Jesus, Nelson I De Jesus, Barbara Deadwyler, Jacqueline Deane, Warren L Deans, Deborah H Dearth, Natalie B Deduke, Gerard M Deenihan, Carmen
Del Valle, Christine M Dell’isloa-Ruggiero, Jeffrey I Dellheim, Lonette B Dennard, Robert R Desir, Sidney Desjardin, Emily Di Biase, Angela M Di Corleto, Joseph Di
Flumeri, Richard J Di Marco, Ada DiCarlo, Hilda Diaz, Laurel R Dick, Joannah Dickinson, Mary T Dieterich, Ellen Dille, Ellen A Dinerstein, Vernon S Dixon, Gerard
P Dobbyn, Lucretia Deloris Dobson, Rachel Dole, Natalya Dolub, Michelle L Domena, Madeline Domenech, Consuelo Dominguez, Denise M Dominguez, Lisa
Donchak, Ann M Donnelly, Lauren Donnelly, Amy I Donner-Schwartz, Francis J Donovan, Melodie A Donovan, Caron G Dorvil, Cassandra T Dorvil, Alyse S Dosik,
Kisha Douglas, Felicia Drewery, Shavonn I DuBois, Karen A Dubin-Knight, Dionne Dublin, Jacqueline Duboulay, John R Duffy, Monica D Dula, Laura M Duran,
Bernard C Durham, Lyndsey N Dussling, Suvra Dutta, Jacek Dziembaj, Le Shawn Earl, Cecilio V Eastman, Victoria L Eby, Susan B Edelstein, Tomiko Edmonds,
Alanda I Edwards, Lisa R Edwards, Marcia Susan Egger, Felicia Ehrlich, Andrew H Eibel, Nancy R Eibel, Julius J Eingoren, Kerry M Elgarten, Anthony J Elitcher,
Andrew J Elmore, Claudia A Emanuel, Theresa Emeterio, Jeanne M Emhoff, Elizabeth B Emmons, James I Ende, Kathleen Engst, Susan Epstein, Jodi R Erickson,
Lindsay Ernst, Jana G Ertrachter, Lourdes E Escobar, Nidia I Espaillat, Jacqueline E Esposito, Theresa A Esposito, Belinda H Etienne, Jonathan S Ettinger, Denise
M Fabiano, Stephen H Falla-Riff, Allen L Fallek, Karen A Faraguna, Allen L Farbman, Anthony J Farley, Lisa C Farray, Trelinda Farrer, Robert Febles, Briana S Fedele,
Carol A Fegan, Martin R Feinman, Louise Feld, Ian F Feldman, Danielle Feman, Harold Ferguson, Beatriz Fernandez, Sheilah Fernandez, Ana Maria Ferrin, Victoria
L Fetterman, Craig E Fielding, Leanne M Fields, Edna E Figueroa, Lillian F Figueroa, Japel M Filiaci, Andrew C Fine, Oscar H Finkel, Kenneth L Finkelman, Cheryl
E Fisher, David N Fisher, Katherine B Fitzer, Golda M Fleischman, Vera Mae Fletcher, Monique Fleury-Brown, Elisa Flight, Husein M Flight, Diana Flores, Gladys
Flores, Josephine Flores, Richard Flores, Yvonne Floyd-Mayers, Megan W Foley, Danielle W Follett, Edna Fonfrias, Jacqueline M Ford, Hamilton L Forde, Janet
Forrester, Kimberly Forte, Allan J Fox, Michelle M Fox, Kimberly N Frankel, Robin Frankel, Melinda M Fraser, Angel G Frau, Demetra D Frazier, Dale I Frederick,
Lisa B Freedman, Julie B Freeman, Lisa A Freeman, Mary L Frey, Helen M Frieder, Oda C Friedheim, Alan Friedman, Bruce Friedman, David L Friedman, David M
Fritz, Julie N Fry, Mark I Futral, George Gabriel, Nicholas E Gagliardo, Frances A Gallagher, Caitlin M Galliker, Erin K Galvin, Alyssa L Gamliel, Adrienne M Gantt,
Margaret S Garber-Steinberg, Harinda Garcia, Jose L Garcia, Laureen Garcia, Maria A Garcia, Omar Garcia, Jonathan R Garelick, Lisa Rae Garland, Elizabeth R
Garrett, Giana F Gaudelli, Sekeena L Gavagan, Cedric Gayle, Nada A Geha, Emily Geiger, Michelle A Gelernt, Gail H Geltman, Ulex A B George, Diego Gerardi,
Samuel A Getz, Francis Gibbons, William D Gibney, Susan Gibson-O’Gara, Patricia O Gil, Sarah T Gillman, Betsy Ginsberg, Nancy L Ginsburg, Ernest Giordani,
Laura B Gitelson, Monica Givens, Andrea S Glenn, Charles A Glover, Melissa R Gluck, Steven Godeski, Clara F Goetz, Bonnie B Goldburg, Steven Golden, Joshua
E Goldfein, Judith A Goldiner, Ira A Goldner, Matthew H Goldsmith, Cathy N Goldstein, Jessica W Goldthwaite, Chandra Gomes, Aurea Gonzalez, Eva Gonzalez,
Kara Gonzalez, Maria C Gonzalez, Rolando Gonzalez, Alan R Gordon, Andrea Gordon, Carlie M Gordon, Ramona Gordon, Martin Gorfinkel, Theresa V Gorski,
Maxwell Gould, Vincent J Graci, Holly B Graham, Herbert Grant, Edward S Graves, James G Graves, Donald R Gray, Burt Grayman, Marshall Green, Michelle
Florence Green, Daniel J Greenbaum, Gary Greenberg, Katharine F Griffing, Pamela J Griffith, Nicholas L Grimaldi, Seth D Gross, Gerald L Grossman, Marla A
Grossman, Adam Z Grumbach, Carolina Guacci, Nidia Guadalupe, Jamie L Guggenheim, Laurence Gurwitch, Karen F Gutheil, Laura W Guthrie, Donna Marie Haase,
Joshua Hadas, Jason M Hadley, Adam P Haenel, Michael A Hahn, Justin L Haines, William Hair, Adrienne Hale, Reginald W Haley, Coleen C Hall, Marlene Halpern,
Karen K Hamberlin, Karen A Hambrick, Junior T Hamilton, Monique A Harding, Robert W Harold, Elon D Harpaz, Juanita B Harris, Judith L Harris, Peter L Hart, JoAnn Hassan, Adam Hassuk, Michele J Hauser, Amy C Hausknecht, Lawrence T Hausman, Matthew W Hawkins, Wanjuri Hawkins, Elizabeth Ann Hay, Jameelah J
Hayes, Lauren K Headley, Mattie L Heath, John T Hecht, Robert Heilbrun, Lester Helfman, Michelle C Henckler, Donna M Henken, Alba L Hernandez, Ariel
Hernandez, Luis R Hernandez, Luz Hernandez, Manuela Hernandez, Lucy C Herschel, Adam S Heyman, Elizabeth E Hibbard, Sarah L Hibbert, Peggy O Hickman,
Michael S Higgins, Eric W Hildebrand, Deborah J Hill, Joanna N Hinkley, John W Hirsch, Karen A Hirsch, Yvonne R Hobbs, Carol J Hochberg, Adriene L Holder,
Bridgett J Holloman, Jacqueline Holmes, Linda A Holmes, Amy M Hong, Evalina Hooks, Arthur H Hopkirk, Richard I Horowitz, Rita P Horvath, Susan J Horwitz,
Samuel A Howell, Suzanne J Hoyes, Daniel K Hsiung, Yvonne Huaringa, Dorothy Hubbard, Kate R Huber, Lakeshia L Hudson, Clinton Hughes, Michael H Hughes,
Adira J Hulkower, Ronald V Hurrey, Michael P Hurson, Soraya E Hurtado, Brian P Hutchinson, Carolyn Y Im, Andrew Inella, Natasha Y Ingram, Charles Ippolito,
Blondell J Irick, Yolanda Irizarry, Celia H Irvine, Svetlana O Isakov, Sigmund Israel, Kenneth B Ives, Rebecca A Ivry, Richard J Jack, Lois J Jackson, Rosemarie O
Jackson, Shirley Jackson, Sophie M Jacobi, Michelle L Jacobs, Lynda W Jahn, Neela Jain, Seymour W James, Angela Maria Jatombliansky, Patricia Jeffery, Johanna
B Jensen, Kam Ling Jim, Sunny Jo, Alexandra J Johnson, Antoinette Johnson, Carolyn A Johnson, Clyde E Johnson, Duane W Johnson, Jamal L Johnson, Kathleen
Johnson, Kendea A Johnson, Nadine A Johnson, Thomas Johnson, Travis M Johnson, Gregory J Johnston, Jessica F Jones, Lasalle Jones, Peter H Jones, Willie E
Jones, Allison P Jordan, Richard Joselson, Gina M Joseph, Seema Joshi, Maria Joza, Janette L Jurado, Steven Jurash, Alan S Kahn, Karen Marsha Kalikow, Anna
Kalliagas, Carolyn Kalos, James Kampil, Melissa J Kanas, Rosy M Kandathil, Sandeep S Kandhari, Emily S Kane, Benjamin Kanstroom, Brian Kanzaki, Emily
Kaplan, Melissa Kaplan, Stephanie Kaplan, David M Kapner, Robin Karasyk, Thalia Karny, Sheryl R Karp, Judith O Karpatkin, Andrew L Katz, Martin Katz, Mitchell
L Katz, Rebecca J Kavanagh, Maura A Keating, Kathleen M Kelleher, Brian E Kelly, Tina L Kemp-Bland, Melvin E Kenny, Andrea L Kenoff, Carl J Kent, Sarah Kerr,
Roma S Kessaram, Eve Kessler, Cynthia R Keyser-Posner, Saleem S Khan, Kathleen M Kheel, Afsane Khot, Han N Kim, Mary Hye Kyung Kim, Mihea Kim, Emily
D Kimball, Evadne Kinear, Steffie Kinglake, Karen L Kipnes, Doreen A Kirwan, Emily Kitay, Thomas M Klein, Steven E Kliman, Helen J Kloogman, Robert J Knightly,
Lisa C Koinig, Bridget K Kong, Coreen H Kopper, Joyce B Korn, Svetlana M Kornfeind, Daniella Korotzer, Estajo Koslow, Jill R Kotner, Susan E Kriete, Nanette Kripke,
David G Kulick, Rebecca Lynn Kurti, Candace Kurtz, Cynthia M La Caprucia, Diane E La Gamma, Jack Lachman, Priya N Lakhi, Stacy M Lam, Brian T Lamb,
Christopher D Lamb, Lori S Landowne, Kelli M Lane, Peter T Lane, Josette Lang, Patrick J Langhenry, Kevin D Lapp, Julie S Last, Leigh E Latimer, Julia Lau, Chani
The Legal Aid Society
T
he Legal Aid Society is the nation’s oldest and
largest not-for-profit organization providing
legal services for clients who cannot afford to
pay for counsel. The Society handles nearly 275,000
legal matters for clients with civil, criminal or juvenile rights legal problems with a staff of more than
1,400 — including nearly 840 lawyers and 600 social
workers, investigators, paralegals, and support and
administrative staff. The Society provides legal services through a network of borough, neighborhood
and courthouses offices in 25 locations in all five
counties of New York City.
Founded in 1876 in New York City, the Society
is a full service provider of legal services and a recognized leader in three major practice areas: civil legal
work, criminal defense and juvenile rights, as well as
impact litigation on behalf of thousands of clients,
including immigrants, survivors of domestic violence, children in foster care, homeless children and
adults, disabled New Yorkers and people who are
incarcerated.
The Civil practice, the oldest and largest civil
program in the nation, provides direct legal assistance
to low-income families and individuals in more than
30,000 client cases annually. Service in the civil area is
provided through a network of 10 neighborhood and
court-based offices and 15 specialized project and citywide programs operating out of that network. Clients
include the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including
senior citizens, survivors of domestic violence, disabled children and adults, homeless and imminently
homeless children and adults, low wage workers,
immigrants and persons living with HIV/AIDS.
The Society handles approximately 220,000 indigent criminal cases every year and serves as the primary public defender in New York City through the
Criminal practice. The Juvenile Rights practice represents 90 percent of the children who appear before the
Family Court in New York City and serves as law
guardian for approximately 27,000 children in proceedings in Family Court.
Legal Aid also has strong relationships with
New York City’s private bar. Many of the leading law
firms in the country are represented on its Board of
Directors, and co-counsel with the organization on
important class actions and law reform cases. Legal
Aid has one of the largest pro bono programs in the
country, enlisting the talents of 1,000 volunteer
lawyers annually, and maintaining relationships with
them throughout their careers. The Society’s pro bono
program supports the three practice areas.
Legal Aid’s fiscal year budget is more than $140
million; 90 percent from public funding, principally
for criminal defense work and representation of juveniles in child protective and delinquency matters. The
remaining funding comes from targeted government
funding and the fund-raising activities of the organization which include private donations from law
firms, associates, corporations, foundations, individuals and special events. The largest source of current
support is the New York legal community. As one of
the largest non-profits in New York City, the Society
is a tax exempt, 501 ( c ) (3) organization, and has
been classified as a publicly supported charitable
organization under Section 501 (a) (1) of the Internal
Revenue Code.
REPORT OF THE CHAIR
I
will complete my term as chairperson of the Board of Directors
of The Legal Aid Society at the
130th Annual Meeting on
November 15. It has been my great
privilege and honor to serve as
Patricia M. Hynes Chairperson of this venerable institution and one of my most rewarding professional experiences. I am extremely pleased to report that the Society is in
a stable financial position with a strong administration and a
dedicated, supportive Board of Directors to continue its mission of ensuring access to the legal system for low-income
New Yorkers who cannot afford to pay private counsel.
During these last few years, we have faced many difficult situations and made some very hard and painful decisions
when the very survival of the Society has been at stake.
In 2004, the Society accomplished a dramatic financial
and managerial turnaround, which included a total restructuring of the Society’s finances and management. The
Society faced a substantial operating deficit for the 2004 fiscal year ending June 30 and a projected $21 million deficit
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005. As a result of the
restructuring, those deficits were eliminated and the Society
achieved a balanced budget for its fiscal years ending June
30, 2005, and June 30, 2006.
There were many critical elements to this dramatic
turnaround. A special infusion of $11 million from the City
and the City Council at the end of June 2004 was an important early step. An additional $9.5 million infusion from our
supporting private law firms in December 2004 enabled the
Society to eliminate more than $40 million in debt and other
liabilities from its balance sheet as creditors agreed to settle
claims at a substantial discount. Part of the restructuring
included downsizing staff and reducing our real estate obligations through consolidations. Significant sacrifices have
been made and continue to be made by managers, exempt
personnel and staff members of The Association of Legal Aid
Attorneys/UAW and the 1199/SEIU, as a result of compensation and benefit reductions that have been implemented.
The Board benefited greatly from the restructuring
expertise provided by Marti Kopacz and her team from
Alvarez & Marsal. Throughout all of the long days and
nights, I was blessed to have Steve Banks, the Attorney-inChief, and Pat Bath, Director of Communications, by my
side. Their commitment and good judgment were largely
responsible for our success in the restructuring effort. It has
been my goal to have The Legal Aid Society be the Gold
Standard for Not For Profit legal services organizations and I
believe we have achieved that goal.
The Board of Directors brought in new management,
including Allan Fox, a professional Human Resources director, who already has made a difference, hired a new outside
auditor, and instituted strict financial controls. A Board
Finance Committee was formed which instituted detailed
monthly financial reporting to the Board and put in place
procedures whereby prior approval of the Finance
Committee had to be obtained before entering into significant financial commitments.
We have made enormous strides in Board governance
and are compliant with Sarbanes Oxley through the efforts of
Faith Grossnickle of Shearman & Sterling LLP, and Rochelle
Korman of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP, who
assisted the Board in revising the By-Laws and creating charters for each of the standing Board committees. I am very
grateful to Janet Sabel, our Secretary and General Counsel,
for spearheading this effort.
Members of the Board have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the Society by devoting enormous
amounts of time and energy on Board committees.
Christopher P. Bogart of Glenavy Capital LLC was the
first chair of the Finance Committee, followed by Theodore
A. Levine of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and Douglas F.
Curtis of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP . They
are working closely with Christopher Conroy, our Chief
Financial Officer, who came to us after retiring from Simpson
Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
Noel J. Spiegel’s (of Deloitte & Touche LLP) chairmanship of the Audit Committee also has been exceptional. The
Committee hired new outside auditors and has instituted a
number of new policies and procedures.
Richard J. Davis and a team from Weil, Gotshal &
Manges LLP have provided outstanding representation of
the Society on crucial legal matters in addition to representing Legal Aid clients on a number of important matters.
Alan Levine of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP has
made great strides as Chair of the Board’s Real Estate
Committee and is obtaining pro bono assistance to upgrade
Society offices throughout the five boroughs.
Both Alan and Mel Immergut (Milbank, Tweed, Hadley
& McCloy LLP), his successor as Chair of the Nominating and
Governance Committee, have brought new members to the
Board of Directors with significant expertise and commitment.
Richard W. Clary of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP has
played a key role in the Board’s strategic oversight of the
Society’s operations and has led his firm’s outstanding pro
bono service to the Society’s clients.
Paul S. Bird of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has brought
in expertise from his firm to work with his Committee on
Retirement and Benefits.
The complete turnaround of the Society has been recognized in the success of our recent private fund-raising efforts,
with the assistance of Nicholas L. Grimaldi, our new Director
of Development. Richard A. Eisner of Eisner LLP has headed
the Development Committee’s efforts to expand our donor
base. Daniel Kolb, the Committee’s Co-Chair and a partner at
Davis Polk & Wardwell, has led a successful effort to expand
the number of Sustaining Law Firms from 34 to 61.
We emerged from the crisis a much stronger, better
managed institution and we now are able to embark on new
and exciting innovations to better serve our clients. Under the
leadership of Theodore A. Levine, a Vice Chair, a major technology initiative was developed in the Spring. Ted Levine
organized an advisory committee of the Chief Information
Officers at six of the Sustaining Law Firms that are represented on the Board of Directors — Cravath Swaine & Moore
LLP; Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP; Simpson Thacher &
Bartlett LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP;
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen &
Katz — and the President of Doar Litigation Consulting. The
committee, on a pro bono basis, helped to analyze the Society’s
current systems and evaluate what a modern law firm of the
Society’s size and complexity should have in place. The committee developed an overall technology plan for the Society
and brought in two nationally known consulting firms,
mindSHIFT Technologies and Baker Robbins & Company, to
give The Legal Aid Society a complete overhaul and modernization of our technology infrastructure and applications.
Through the assistance of Alexander D. Forger, a former President and former Chairman of the Society, and the
Nominating and Governance Committee, the Board has created the Board of Advisers to promote the Society’s work in
the legal community and to support the Society’s fund raising activities.
The Nominating and Governance Committee has recommended that Alan Levine succeed me as Chair of the
Board. Alan, the partner in charge of the New York office of
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, developed a pro bono immigration practice at his firm to benefit the Society’s Immigration Unit. He was very involved in the restructuring efforts
and will be an excellent chair.
Peter v. Z. Cobb, who had served as Co-Managing
Partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, was
appointed President of the Society in early 2005 to complete
the financial and management rehabilitation of the Society.
Peter, as you will read in his report, has accomplished what
he set out to do and has decided not to seek another term as
President. We wish him well in his future endeavors and
thank him for his contribution to the work of the Society
during 2005 and 2006. He has played an important role in
helping the Society achieve its goals of financial and management stability.
The Nominating Committee has recommended to the
Board the election of Ted Levine as President. Ted, currently
serving as a Vice Chair and Co-Chair of Finance, has government, private practice and corporate executive experience as
the Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement,
the Chief Legal Officer of UBS PaineWebber Inc., and a partner in a major private law firm. Ted is currently Of Counsel
at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and will continue in that
capacity. The Board is confident that he is well positioned to
assume the position of President of the Society and to devote
the necessary time to continue the Society’s progress.
As you read the Report of the Attorney-in-Chief, you
will learn about the work of our dedicated staff who accomplish great results for our clients on a daily basis. This annual
report is dedicated to them. No report of The Legal Aid
Society would be complete without mentioning Steven Banks,
our dynamic and tireless Attorney-in-Chief. Steve, who is one
of the best known poverty lawyers in the United States, has
devoted his entire legal career to the work of The Legal Aid
Society. As the Society’s chief lawyer and an excellent manager, Steve ably leads our staff of some 600 support personnel
and 840 lawyers to perform with excellence. Steve manages a
legal practice that is extraordinary. The range of legal services
provided by the Society is vast — almost staggering —
275,000 client cases in the Civil, Criminal and Juvenile Rights
practices in addition to impact litigation on behalf of thousands of clients including immigrants, survivors of domestic
violence, children in foster care, homeless children and adults,
disabled New Yorkers and people who are incarcerated.
I am proud to have served the Society through these
difficult years. I am thankful for the support from everyone
that has made it possible for the Society to move forward. In
the coming years, the Society will need increased support
from both the private and public sectors to continue its
important work and provide the essential legal services critical to the preservation of our system of justice.
REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
A
s many of you know, I will
be stepping down as
President of the Society
after its Annual Meeting on
November 15. I will be sad to leave
such a dedicated and effective staff
but I am proud of what we have
Peter v. Z. Cobb
accomplished in the past two years.
I will be leaving the Society in very good hands — an
extraordinarily talented and hard-working staff, a cohesive,
collegial and dedicated senior management group, and a
Board of Directors that brings tremendous energy and
resources to the governance of the Society. Under the leadership of our wonderful Attorney-in-Chief, Steve Banks, our
staff continues to bring the very highest level of service to
the poor people of New York — this past year, in more than
275,000 cases, we provided legal and other services to people
who literally have no other place to turn.
This past year we put in place new financial and management systems and laid the groundwork for a thorough
revamping of the Society’s technology infrastructure and
case management systems. The Society is entering the modern age!
Financially, each of our practice areas is stronger than it
was at the beginning of the year. Through a strong advocacy
effort we received increased funding from the New York City
Council and the City Administration and New York State
with respect to our Criminal and Juvenile practices. In the
Civil practice we benefited from a number of significant
efforts by the Board and the Development staff.
I would particularly like to thank the members of the
Board of Directors for their outstanding support in the past
year. With strong leadership from Development Committee
co-chairs Richard A. Eisner, of Eisner LLP, and Daniel F. Kolb,
of Davis Polk & Wardwell, more than $13.3 million was raised
for our Civil practice through a variety of funding sources.
Central to this effort were several initiatives that secured the
extraordinary generosity of firms and individual attorneys of
the local, private bar. The Sustaining Law Firm Campaign,
with Mr. Kolb leading the charge, was especially successful.
An additional 28 firms came aboard at the sustaining level,
bringing the drive to a conclusion with a total of 61 firms
making contributions at $600 per attorney in their New York
offices. Additional support was secured from other firms at
the non-sustaining level.
The Associates Campaign, reinvigorated through the
joint efforts of Sean Wissman, of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP,
and Patricia Bath, Legal Aid’s Director of Communications,
captured the interest and support of the younger attorneys at
35 firms. Top contributors included associates at Chadbourne
& Parke LLP; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Hughes Hubbard
& Reed LLP; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Proskauer Rose
LLP; Kaye Scholer LLP; Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman
LLP; Cooley Godward Kronish LLP; Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen
& Hamilton LLP; Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP and
Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto LLP. Firms with 70 percent or more participation included Arnold & Porter LLP;
Fitzpatrick Cella; Cooley Godward and Milberg Weiss.
On May 16, Robert D. Joffe, Presiding Partner of
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, was the honoree at the 29th
Annual Servant of Justice Award Dinner at the WaldorfAstoria Hotel, with Richard D. Parsons, Chairman and CEO of
Time Warner Inc., serving as presenter. The event raised nearly $1 million for the Civil practice.
The all-volunteer Civil Support Division, co-chaired by
Barbara Latz Cohen and Mary Anne Hatch, put on three
other major fundraising events during the year that netted
close to $450,000. These included the 43rd Annual Legal Aid
Society Ball, chaired by Ms. Cohen with co-chair Betsy C.
Stapleton; The Cabaret at the Rainbow Room, co-chaired by
Deirdre Kane and Cynthia Smith; and the Thinking Out
Loud Luncheon chaired by Angela Duff, Carol Duffy and
Louise Firestone.
During this year we have laid the groundwork for the
expansion of other important sources of current funding for
the Civil practice. Alexander Forger, a past president and
past chairman of The Legal Aid Society and former chairman
of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, initiated a formal
Planned Giving Program. A series of mailings was launched
to renew and upgrade the support of loyal individuals contributing to the Civil practice, and other mailings were initiated to acquire new donors. Similar steps were taken to identify new foundation and corporate supporters to join those
already very generously supporting our work.
Throughout the year, the Board of Directors, under the
leadership of Patricia M. Hynes, has continued to play a central role in all of our development efforts. Through their
efforts and the generosity of the law firms and companies
that many of them come from, the Society has a very strong
philanthropic base that is essential to all of our efforts.
The Legal Aid Society is a wonderful organization that
is absolutely essential to the moral well-being of this wonderful city of ours. I will miss everyone that I have worked
with here.
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
2006 SUSTAINING LAW FIRMS
The Legal Aid Society acknowledges the outstanding support of the following law
firms. These firms sustain the work of The Legal Aid Society’s Civil Program by
contributing at a leadership level of $600 per New York attorney.
Arnold & Porter LLP
Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider
Baker & Hostetler LLP
Bingham McCutcheon LLP
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
Chadbourne & Parke LLP
Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP
Covington & Burling
Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
DePetris & Bachrach LLP
Dewey Ballantine LLP
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP
Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto LLP
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP
The Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Goodwin Proctor
Heller Ehrman LLP
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Hunton & Williams LLP
Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
Kaye Scholer LLP
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore
Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Lankler Siffert & Wohl LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P.
Lowenstein Sandler P.C.
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello &
Bohrer P.C.
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Orans, Elsen & Lupert LLP
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Proskauer Rose LLP
Richards Spears Kibbe & Orbe LLP
Ropes & Gray LLP
Seiff Kretz & Abercrombie
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C.
White & Case
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP
The Legal Aid Society expresses its appreciation and gratitude to Daniel Kolb, a Director of the Society and a partner at
Davis Polk & Wardwell, for successfully leading the law firm expansion effort.
The Legal Aid Society’s Civil practice provides legal representation to the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including senior
citizens, survivors of domestic violence, disabled children and adults, homeless and imminently homeless children and adult,
low wage workers, immigrants and persons living with HIV/AIDS. The support of the Sustaining Law Firms helps to
ensure that poverty is not a barrier to accessing the justice system.
legal aid
supporters
Robert D. Joffe, Presiding Partner at Cravath,
Swaine & Moore LLP, was honored at the 29th
annual Servant of Justice Award Dinner at the
Waldorf-Astoria. Richard D. Parsons, Chairman
and CEO of Time Warner Inc., introduced Mr. Joffe.
Patricia M. Hynes, Chairperson of the Board of
Directors, presented the award to him.
Richard W. Clary, a Vice Chair of the
Society and head of litigation at
Cravath, and Patricia M. Hynes congratulate Mr. Joffe at the reception
before the dinner.
HAVING A BALL –
Theodore A. Levine
and his wife, Lucia
Swanson, and
Patricia M. Hynes
congratulated Betsy
Stapleton and Sheila
Kaplowitz for their
work on the Legal Aid
Ball, sponsored by
the Civil Support
Division. Sheila
served as Chair of
the successful event
at Tavern on the
Green with Betsy as
the Co-Chair.
THE ASSOCIATES’ CAMPAIGN – Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz hosted the Associates’
Campaign Awards Ceremony in June to honor the associate solicitors who had worked so
hard to raise funds for the Society. Above center, Bruce Fader presents an award to Sean
Wissman, of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, who chaired the Campaign. Top contributors included
associates at Chadbourne & Parke LLP; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Hughes Hubbard & Reed
LLP; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Proskauer Rose LLP; Kaye Scholer LLP; Milberg Weiss
Bershad & Schulman LLP; Cooley Godward Kronish LLP; Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton
LLP; Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto LLP. Firms with
70 percent or more participation included Arnold & Porter LLP; Fitzpatrick Cella; Cooley
Godward and Milberg Weiss. Above right are Theodore A. Levine, who served as the master
of ceremonies, and Lawrence B. Pedowitz, who spoke at the event.
Officers of The Legal Aid Society
President – Peter v. Z. Cobb
Attorney-in-Chief – Steven Banks
Secretary – Janet E. Sabel
Chief Financial Officer – Christopher A. Conroy
The Board of Directors of The Legal Aid Society
Chairman of the Board
Patricia M. Hynes
Vice Chairs
Ruth Atkins, Richard W. Clary, Richard J. Davis, Theodore A. Levine,
Lawrence B. Pedowitz, Grace Lyu-Volckhausen
Directors
Roger S. Aaron
Ruth Atkins
Paul S. Bird
Christopher P. Bogart
Richard W. Clary
Peter v. Z. Cobb
Barbara L. Cohen
J. Peter Coll, Jr.
Douglas F. Curtis
Richard J. Davis
Richard A. Eisner
Bruce E. Fader
Vincent R. FitzPatrick, Jr.
Michael D. Fricklas
Michael B. Gerrard
Hervé Gouraige
Noah J. Hanft
Michael S. Helfer
Steven G. Horowitz
Patricia M. Hynes
Mel M. Immergut
Jerome C. Katz
Alfreida B. Kenny
John J. Kirby, Jr.
David Klingsberg
Daniel F. Kolb
Rochelle Korman
William F. Kuntz II
Carmen J. Lawrence
Alan Levine
Theodore A. Levine
Robert O. Link, Jr.
Loretta E. Lynch
Randy Mastro
E. Leo Milonas
Sara E. Moss
Gary P. Naftalis
Lawrence B. Pedowitz
Linda E. Rappaport
Lisa Rosenblum
Charles H. Scherer
Alan D. Schnitzer
Elizabeth M. Sheehan
Richard Shutran
Jonathan D. Siegfried
Thomas R. Smith, Jr.
Noel J. Spiegel
Myron Trepper
Alan Vinegrad
Grace Lyu-Volckhausen
Paul F. Washington
Perry Weitz
Alfred D. Youngwood
REPORT
OF THE
ATTORNEYIN-CHIEF
More than 1,000 volunteer lawyers and paralegals from
leading private law firms and corporate law departments
participate in the Society’s pro bono program that further
leverages the Society’s resources.
C
lients seek the services of The Legal Aid Society under desperate circumstances when no
one else can or will stand up for them. Their cases are assigned to Society staff by the
courts; or clients may be referred to Society offices by community organizations, social
services agencies, elected officials, government agencies, or word of mouth. During 2006, with a
staff of more than 1,400 — including nearly 840 lawyers and 600 social workers, investigators,
paralegals, and support and administrative staff — the Society handled 275,000 legal matters
for clients with civil, criminal, or juvenile rights legal problems.
Through a network of borough, neighborhood, and courthouse offices in 25 locations in
all five counties of the city, the Society provides comprehensive legal services for clients who
cannot afford to pay for counsel. The Society’s legal program operates three major practices –
Civil, Criminal, and Juvenile Rights. The Society’s Pro Bono Practice supports all three of these
practice areas.
Steven Banks
Each practice area provides advice and counsel and legal representation in individual
client cases and law reform legal advocacy to groups of similarly situated clients to address
common problems. Society staff members represent clients at literally every level of the state
and federal trial and appellate courts as well as in state and federal administrative proceedings.
Based on the Society’s expertise, staff is frequently asked to testify before federal, state, and City
Council legislative committees and comment on administrative regulations and procedures.
The Society also operates extensive “know your rights” community outreach programs for
clients and community-based organizations as well as Continuing Legal Education programs
for Society staff, pro bono volunteers, and the legal community in general.
More than 1,000 volunteer lawyers and paralegals from leading private law firms and corporate law departments participate in the Society’s pro bono program that further leverages the
Society’s resources. The Society’s pro bono program increasingly involves partnering with a firm
to target legal assistance to specific substantive areas within the Civil, Juvenile Rights, and
Criminal practices. Firms accept cases in a priority area of client need and then provide oversight
in conjunction with Legal Aid staff specialists. A new Buttenwieser Senior Attorney Project
enlists the pro bono assistance of retired lawyers to serve clients who otherwise cannot be helped.
Government funds the constitutionally mandated representation of clients provided by the
Criminal practice and the Juvenile Rights practice. Aside from some targeted government funding for special Civil programs, the Civil practice is largely dependent on private funding for
client services. In all three practice areas, securing adequate resources is a challenge each year.
This report on the Society’s legal work during the past year is a tribute to the extraordinary work of the Society’s staff. With limited resources, every day of the year Society staff members provide high quality services in a high volume legal practice under difficult circumstances.
The Civil Practice
The Society’s Civil practice helps clients obtain and maintain the basic necessities of life —
housing, health care, food and subsistence income or self-sufficiency. During 2006, the Civil
practice provided advice and counsel and representation in some 30,000 individual legal matters through a network of neighborhood and courthouse-based offices in all five boroughs and
citywide programs or special projects. Because of lack of resources, however, the Society has to
turn away at least six potential clients for every client who can receive legal help.
The Civil practice serves as a “one-stop” legal resource for clients with a broad variety of
legal problems, including access to housing, homelessness, employment, government benefits,
health care and/or medical insurance, immigration, elder law, domestic violence, family law,
education, wills, community development and other general civil matters. The practice’s clients
present the most desperate situations: survivors of domestic violence, frail senior citizens living
alone, disabled or chronically-ill children and adults, unemployed or low-wage workers, immigrants, homeless or imminently homeless children and adults, and persons living with HIV or
AIDS.
The Society Changes Lives
Cases involving
domestic violence and
family law represent
situations in which
Society staff make a
critical difference in
the lives of clients.
Cases involving domestic violence and family law represent situations in which Society
staff make a critical difference in the lives of clients. During this past year, for example, Society
staff represented Ms. R., an immigrant who speaks no English. Her husband, a lawful permanent resident, regularly abused her, and then abandoned her and left their two children living
in poverty. At the time that a judge referred Ms. R.’s divorce proceeding to the Society, the children were on public assistance and Ms. R. herself had to resort to collecting bottles in order to
pay for basic expenses. Society staff quickly discovered that despite his claims to the contrary,
Ms. R.’s husband was a successful entrepreneur whose annual income far exceeded the $17,000
he claimed.
Based on evidence the Society presented during six days of trial, the judge found that Mr.
R. earned more than $106,000 a year and owed significantly more child support than the $40
per week he had been paying. The Judge also awarded Ms. R. 100 percent of the marital property that the Society had uncovered. As a result, Ms. R. and her children will be able to live independently without public assistance. This is the first decision that awards a spouse 100 percent
of the assets that could be established at trial when the other spouse had wrongfully concealed
assets and income. In his decision, the judge concluded that “[Ms. R] has gone on alone without
any real assistance from the husband and would probably have continued in that lifestyle were
it not for the efforts of The Legal Aid Society.”
Pascale Nijhof, Program Manager for the Civil practice, and Erin Liotta, Program Associate, discuss
disability grant proposals with Ian Feldman, Assistant Attorney-in-Charge of the Bronx Neighborhood
Office, and Richard Lombino of the Coalition for the Homeless. Legal Aid’s Civil practice stretches
resources by working closely with community partners to serve more clients.
The Society’s Health Law Unit untangled the web of
government bureaucracy and restored the status quo so that
Mr. and Mrs. T. could continue to fill their prescriptions
without this $300 monthly fee.
The Society Fights Bureaucracy
To Help Vulnerable Clients – Clients frequently are denied the assistance that they
need because of bureaucratic errors. For example, Mr. and Mrs. T. are an elderly couple struggling to get by each day. Like many senior citizens, they take numerous medications for ailments, including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, hypertension, a thyroid condition, and
diabetes. As mandated by a new federal law, their Medicaid prescription drug coverage ended
on January 1, 2006, and their new coverage with Medicare began. Under the new Medicare program, the T.’s were shocked when they refilled their prescriptions on January 3 and were told
they owed more that $300 in new co-payments for the month. The Society’s Health Law Unit
untangled the web of government bureaucracy and restored the status quo so that Mr. and Mrs.
T. could continue to fill their prescriptions without this $300 monthly fee.
The Society Keeps Clients In Their Homes – Preventing and alleviating homelessness is a priority area for the Society’s clients. For instance, during this past year, after she had
been evicted for non-payment of rent, Society staff successfully restored Ms. B. to possession of
an apartment in which she had lived for 30 years. Ms. B. works as a home attendant but fell
into arrears with her rent when she had to cover extraordinary expenses resulting from the
death of her grandchild who was born prematurely, suffered a heart attack, and died shortly
after birth.
Similarly, the Civil practice recently obtained two major appellate decisions that protect
large numbers of clients from arbitrary eviction. In one case, the Appellate Division in the First
Department required landlords to continue to accept federal Section 8 rent subsidies from tenants covered by the rent stabilization law. In that case, the Society represented Ms. R. who is
disabled and lives with her disabled daughter and two young grandchildren in the same apartment in which Ms. R. has lived for 31 years. Sixty thousand tenants will benefit as a result of
the ruling in Ms. R.’s case.
Robert Desir, a staff attorney in
the Queens Neighborhood
Office, meets with a client in
Legal Aid’s Housing Court office
to discuss a problem.
In another case, the Appellate Division in the Second Department held unanimously that
a tenant who has been sued for alleged non-payment of rent in Housing Court may raise a
defense or counterclaim of a rent overcharge if the landlord has sought a rent increase based on
a claimed individual apartment improvement. The appellate court found that New York law
did not require such rent overcharge complaints to be first raised with the state housing agency
before a court can hear the claim. Otherwise, the
appellate court concluded, a tenant could be evicted
for not paying what may be an illegal rent increase.
Meanwhile, with the Society’s Homeless Rights
Project, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP has continued
to provide critical pro bono assistance to protect homeless children and their families from harm.
The Society Helps Immigrants To Make A
New Life – The Civil practice is able to represent
additional immigrant clients with the assistance of pro
bono counsel at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, which
is working in conjunction with Society Immigration
Unit staff to run an Immigration Detention Defense
Pro Bono Project that provides representation to lawful
permanent residents with valid claims to remain in
this country who are facing imminent deportation
based on long-ago convictions. Hughes, Hubbard &
Adriene Holder, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil practice, right, reviews some case files with Nilsa
Saniel, a paralegal in the Harlem Community Law Office.
Reed LLP has joined the project this past year and is staffing Legal Aid’s Immigration Hotline.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is also working with the Immigration Unit to run a Washington
Heights Immigration Project, and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McCrae’s expanded representation
has augmented Legal Aid’s resources in handling these kinds of immigration cases.
The crucial role of the Society’s immigration work is illustrated by a case that was publicized in The New York Times during this past year. Working together with pro bono counsel at
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; and Weil, Gotshal &
Manges LLP, the Society’s Immigration Unit obtained lawful status for Amadou Ly, a young
immigrant from Senegal. He had been abandoned in this country as a young teenager but he
excelled in high school and was heading to college. However, he faced certain deportation until
the Society and its pro bono partners stepped in to help him.
The Society
represents thousands
of immigrant
survivors of domestic
violence and their
children living
legally in New York
City who were
wrongfully denied
public assistance,
food stamps, and
Medicaid.
The Society Secures Critical Financial Assistance For Clients – Often, clients are
wrongfully denied wages which they have earned or subsistence benefits for which they are eligible, like disability or unemployment benefits, public assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, or an
earned income tax credit. For example, the Society’s Employment Law Project represented Mr.
K., who performed seasonal work from December to April for the same employer for many
years and received unemployment insurance for the remainder of the year. During this past
year, Mr. K.’s unemployment benefits were terminated when his employer erroneously claimed
that Mr. K., who has mental health problems, had worked for several days during the off-season period four years ago. Society staff represented Mr. K. at three separate administrative hearings before the dispute was resolved and Mr. K.’s benefits were restored.
Likewise, Society staff represented Ms. A., a 58-year-old woman who does not speak
English and did not complete high school. Ms. A worked for many years in a sewing factory
but had to quit due to poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, diabetic neuropathy, a herniated disc,
and arthritis. Ms. A.’s initial application for federal Supplemental Security Income disability
benefits was denied. However, with the help of Society staff, following an administrative hearing, Ms. A. was awarded monthly disability benefits along with over $10,000 in retroactive benefits.
The Society’s Law Reform Litigation Secures Aid For Immigrant Survivors of
Domestic Violence – In the M.K.B. v. Eggleston class action case, co-counseled with Hughes,
Hubbard & Reed LLP and another legal group, the Society represents thousands of immigrant
survivors of domestic violence and their children living legally in New York City who were
wrongfully denied public assistance, food stamps, and Medicaid. The situation has been devastating because these destitute women and children were left without money to buy food, clothing, diapers and other essentials and without any access to medical care. The case established
Staff Attorney Camille Carey (left) and Emily Ruben (right), Attorney-in-Charge
of the Brooklyn neighborhood office, enjoy playing with little Carlos, 4, and
talking with his mother, Iris, during a meeting at the Livingston Street office.
Iris, a domestic violence survivor, calls Camille and Emily “my angels”
because they prevented her ex-husband from taking her son away from her
and having her deported to Honduras. Now Iris is able to rebuild her life with
little Carlos.
that the city and state failed to train caseworkers
to recognize which legal immigrants are eligible
for benefits. In addition, erroneously programmed city and state computers made it nearly
impossible to provide benefits to many eligible
immigrants. In a major legal victory, the federal
district court ordered the city and state to stop
denying these subsistence benefits. The federal
judge found that the evidence “suggests
that...dire consequences are occurring with
respect to these and certain other immigrant
groups who...have fallen between the cracks of
New York’s welfare system.”
The Society’s Class Action Litigation
Protects Disabled New Yorkers – In the
Lovely H. v. Eggleston class action, Society staff
and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
achieved a groundbreaking federal district court
ruling that New York City violated the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act when it set up
the WeCare program for disabled individuals
who receive public benefits, and then required
disabled recipients to transfer their public assistance cases from local offices to one of three “disabled only” segregated centers in Manhattan, the
Bronx and Brooklyn in order to continue to
receive food stamps, Medicaid and public assistance.
The federal judge concluded that “[t]o permit the continued expansion of the current involuntary program...would be to turn back the clock
not only for the individual who is denied access
to the neighborhood center that welcomes her
able-bodied neighbors, but also for a society that
Geoffrey Mason proudly shows off his 4-month-old son, Kenneth, as he meets
with Salome Thompson (center), social worker supervisor, and Janet A.
has made tremendous efforts and strides to
Chaplan, staff attorney, in the Staten Island Juvenile Rights office, to discuss
improve, rather than constrict, accessibility for
his case.
and integration of the disabled into all aspects of
mainstream life.” The court described in detail the irreparable harm suffered by the Society’s
clients because of their “physical and mental barriers to mobility,” concluding that “the day-today mobility challenges they face are exacerbated by anxiety as to whether their safety-net welfare benefits will be terminated if they fail to make the journey.” The court ordered the city to
allow 23,000 disabled individuals who had already been transferred to move back to their
neighborhood centers.
Pro Bono Assistance Enables The Society To Help Client Community
Development Initiatives – Pro bono attorneys at 20 firms handle a substantial portion of the
Society’s Community Development Project caseload to help clients form tenant organizations to
manage their buildings and preserve affordable housing or assist clients to set up non-profit
organizations and small businesses to move out of poverty, create jobs, and bring educational
and social services into low income neighborhoods. The leading firms handling this transaction-
During 2006, the Society’s Juvenile Rights practice continued to
serve as the court-appointed law guardian representing over 27,000
children in abuse, neglect, juvenile delinquency, and persons in need
of supervision proceedings in all five boroughs.
al work this past year are Cadwalader Wickersham and Taft LLP; Patterson Belknap, Webb &
Tyler LLP; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; and Nixon Peabody LLP.
The Prisoners’ Rights Project Provides Critical Legal Help For Society Clients
– As a result of a settlement that the Project achieved during this past year, disabled clients are
now permitted to participate in programs to prepare prisoners for reentry into the community
from which they were previously excluded. Likewise, as a result of an individual Project case
brought in conjunction with Darby & Darby, a woman who was separated from her newborn
baby when she was transferred from a city jail to a state prison, was reunited with her child in a
special prison nursery. During this past year, the Society, pro bono counsel from Sullivan &
Cromwell LLP, and the law firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, also obtained a
major settlement in a federal class action case to protect clients jailed at Rikers Island from the
use of excessive force by prison guards.
The Juvenile Rights Practice
During 2006, the Society’s Juvenile Rights practice continued to serve as the courtappointed law guardian representing over 27,000 children in abuse, neglect, juvenile delinquency, and persons in need of supervision proceedings in all five boroughs. Juvenile Rights law
guardians have also appeared on behalf of their clients in custody, visitation, and adoption matters and in the Integrated Domestic Violence parts in the Criminal and Supreme Courts and in
mediation matters. The work of the staff at the Juvenile Rights practice remains the single most
significant factor in the court’s decision-making process regarding the children and young
adults who are the subject of Family Court proceedings.
This year, Juvenile Rights staff faced an unanticipated increase in the number of abuse and
neglect petitions filed in Family Court as well as problems presented by the implementation of
the new state permanency planning law aimed at ensuring that the Family Court cases of children are resolved promptly. The tragic deaths of several children at the end of 2005 created a
groundswell of calls to the State Central Registry with information about suspected child abuse
or neglect. During the first five months of 2006, 4,029 petitions were filed, a 139 percent increase
Tamara Steckler, Attorneyin-Charge of the Juvenile
Rights practice, conducts a
meeting with her senior
staff. From left: Judy
Waksberg, Director of
Appeals; Kim McLaurin,
Attorney-in-Charge of the
Queens Juvenile Rights
Office; Nancy Rosenbloom,
Director of the Special
Litigation and Law Reform
Unit; and Nanette
Schrandt, Director of the
Juvenile Services Unit.
In abuse and neglect cases, Juvenile Rights staff provided
representation to children in the city’s most horrifying
cases this year.
from 2005. In accordance with the new state permanency law,
these petitions will be calendared every six months for a permanency hearing, thereby doubling court time for Society staff.
The Juvenile Rights Practice Represents Children
In Desperate Circumstances – In one recent case, based on
a extraordinary trial court record that a Juvenile Rights attorney created, the Juvenile Rights Appeals Unit obtained a landmark ruling reversing a Family Court order that had placed a
child in custody for 12 months. The Appellate Division, First
Department, in reversing the placement decision, found that
the 12-month placement was not the least restrictive environment for a child who might have been raised in a “chaotic
home environment,” but was only in court for his first offense
for an alleged single instance of smoking marijuana.
Members of the new class
in the Juvenile Rights practice receive training. The
new class consists of attorneys, social workers and
paralegals.
Educational advocacy is extremely critical for Juvenile
Rights clients. In a representative case this year, a 16-year-old
student with a learning disability who was eligible for special
resource room services was denied entry into school in
September 2005 and did not receive any educational services for approximately six months.
Society education experts requested an impartial hearing and negotiated a settlement on his
behalf obtaining an immediate school placement and agreement by the Department of
Education to pay for 450 hours of compensatory tutoring services, valued at $36,000.
In abuse and neglect cases, Juvenile Rights staff provided representation to children in the
city’s most horrifying cases this year. Staff in the Brooklyn office did an exceptional job representing and ensuring all necessary services are provided to the siblings of Nixzmary Brown,
who tragically died in the beginning of 2006. In another well-publicized case, Queens staff zealously advocated for the best permanency plan for the four-year-old child who was found wandering in the streets of Queens at night after her mother had been killed by her boyfriend.
New Initiatives Are Aimed At Enhancing Assistance For Children – In anticipation
of the varied advocacy and service needs of the practice’s increasing caseload of teenage clients,
the Manhattan office has started an Adolescent Advocacy Project. The Manhattan social work staff
has also developed a “Books for Kids” project, renovating a small storage room in the Manhattan
Family courthouse and creating an appropriate environment for children who are waiting for
their cases in court. Each child receives a book to take home with them to encourage reading.
The Brooklyn staff has organized two workgroups: one to deal with problems faced by
clients either gang involved or thought to be gang involved, and one to discuss the implementation of mediation for delinquency clients which is a priority for Family Court.
Likewise, following a recent youth summit, Bronx office staff is working with the
Interdisciplinary Center at Fordham University to develop a protocol for Family Court judges
and attorneys to utilize when making the difficult decision of when children should come to
court. The Bronx staff has also played a key role in organizing the borough’s Teen Day, a day in
which service providers come to Family Court and present their programs to teen clients and
Family Court practitioners.
Juvenile Rights Appellate And Law Reform Work Helps Children – During 2006,
the practice’s Appeals Unit continued to cope with an increased number of appeals over the
past four years. In a representative case, the Unit handled an appeal in which the appellate
court agreed with the Society’s position that an identification is “police-arranged” when a
policeman goes to a school with the express purpose of finding and identifying a juvenile. As a
Cahill, Gordon &
Reindel LLP has
initiated a special
advocacy project
with the Society to
help meet the educational and developmental needs of very
young abused and
neglected children in
foster care.
result, the prosecution’s failure to provide timely notice of the identification resulted in the
identification being precluded.
At the same time, the Juvenile Rights Special Litigation and Law Reform Unit continues
to address the pressing systemic issues that are identified from the recurring problems faced by
Juvenile Rights practice clients. Current litigation initiatives include efforts to reunify families
with children ready for discharge from foster care where the lack of adequate housing is a barrier; challenging removals of children from kinship foster homes without due process of law;
enforcing the educational rights of children returning to New York City community schools
from court-ordered settings; ensuring children in juvenile detention facilities receive legally
mandated medical and mental health services; and securing timely residential treatment of children with mental health needs.
Pro Bono Projects Help Increase Services For Children – Cahill, Gordon & Reindel
LLP has initiated a special advocacy project with the Society to help meet the educational and
developmental needs of very young abused and neglected children in foster care. Latham &
Watkins LLP continues to specialize in assisting undocumented foster youth found by the Family
Court to have been abused, abandoned or neglected to gain permanent residency status. Without
this life-changing legal relief, these youths would age out of eligibility and face deportation.
Proskauer Rose’s pro bono assistance to foster children includes taking more than 30 appeals that
remove the final barrier to these children’s adoption. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP has continued
its outstanding Paralegal Support Project, which teams paralegals working from the firm’s offices
with Juvenile Rights staff in Brooklyn to help ensure that youth who are aging out of foster care
have the skills and support services to live independently. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP has
initiated its own Paralegal Support Project, assisting the Manhattan Juvenile Rights office.
Marshall Green, Attorney-in-Charge of the Bronx Neighborhood Office, and Julian Leshin, a community representative, are explaining the situation to the niece of a client. The Society stretches its
resources by working with community partners to expand its outreach to clients.
The criminal defense trial offices, which operate in the Bronx,
Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, handled some 210,000 cases
on charges ranging from minor infractions to the most serious
felony charges.
The Criminal Practice
With a Criminal practice that includes trials, appeals and parole revocation defense, the
Society is the largest public defender organization in the country, as well as the primary
provider of indigent defense services in New York City. In addition to attorneys, each office is
staffed with social workers, paralegals, investigators, staff who can translate or provide access
to interpreters, and others who support the criminal defense work.
The criminal defense trial offices, which operate in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and
Queens, handled some 210,000 cases on charges ranging from minor infractions to the most
serious felony charges.
The Society Provides Zealous Representation – An acquittal is clearly a significant
achievement. Zealous advocacy that secures a dismissal or a plea that avoids incarceration can
be just as important and can have a profound impact on a client ’s life.
For example, during this past year, a Society staff attorney and social worker represented
a veteran who had been mentally and physically abused in foster care as a child and had been
repeatedly hospitalized for mental illness since his initial treatment at 18 while serving as a
Marine during the Vietnam War. He was charged with committing a robbery at a time when he
had stopped taking his medication and suffered from auditory hallucinations. He faced a
mandatory sentence of three-and-a-half to 15 years in state prison if convicted. The attorney
was able to persuade the District Attorney and the judge to permit the client to enroll in an
intensive long-term treatment program. The client completed the program, was stabilized on
medication, and relocated to assisted living.
In another case, a client was charged with assault for allegedly punching and breaking the
jaw of an individual with whom he had been arguing. At the time of the incident, the client, who
asserted that he had acted in self defense, had been accompanied by a former co-worker, who he
Seymour James, Attorney-in-Charge of the Criminal practice, conducts a meeting of Criminal practice senior staff including (from
left) David Clarke, Attorney-in-Charge of the Bronx County Office; Steven Golden, Deputy Attorney-in-Charge of the Manhattan
office; Irwin Shaw, Attorney-in-Charge of the Manhattan office; Seymour; Timothy Rountree, Attorney-in-Charge of the Queens
County Office; Dawn Ryan, Attorney-in-Charge of the Kings County Office; and Edward Mayr, Deputy Attorney-in-Charge of the
Queens office. Aida Ramos, Director of Administration, is seated with her back to the camera.
Michael Pineiro, a Queens Criminal practice supervisor, and Risa Procton, a staff attorney, meet with
Timothy Rountree to discuss a custody problem involving one of Risa’s clients who has been arrested.
only knew by a nickname. A Society investigator located the witness and secured his attendance
at trial. Despite the fact that the complainant, along with four of his friends who were present,
testified at trial, the client was acquitted based on his testimony and that of his witness.
Likewise, a Criminal Defense attorney represented a client who was charged with a gunpoint robbery of a local bodega he and his family had frequented since his childhood. The
bodega owner, his wife and child were present at the robbery. The client was offered probation
but declined the offer, insisting on his innocence. The Society attorney arranged for the client to
take a polygraph test, which he passed, and arranged for his teachers and guidance counselor
to serve as character witnesses. A motion to dismiss in the interest of justice was denied, but the
Criminal Defense staff eventually persuaded the District Attorney to dismiss the case.
Adriene Holder
Attorney-in-Charge of
the Civil practice
Criminal Defense staff also represented a client who was alleged to have entered a crowded bar wearing a motorcycle helmet and visor and fired two shots at point blank range into the
complaining witness. The shooting victim claimed that the Society’s client, a former roommate,
was the shooter. An interview of the victim revealed several inconsistent statements and a bias
against the Society’s client. At trial, the Society was able to impeach the shooting victim with
his prior statements and demonstrate his prejudice against the Society’s client. After the not
guilty verdict, the jurors told the Society staff that the victim’s inconsistent statements, his
biased opinions of the client and the inconsistent testimony of several other prosecution witnesses gave them reasonable doubt that the right man was arrested.
The Society Achieves Significant Appellate Victories For Clients – The Society’s
Criminal Appeals Bureau represents clients on direct appeals in the Appellate Divisions and
Appellate Terms of the Supreme Courts and the New York Court of Appeals. In addition the
Bureau represents clients in post-conviction proceedings in the State trial courts, and has a substantial habeas corpus practice in the federal district and appeals courts.
Tamara Steckler
Attorney-in-Charge of the
Juvenile Rights practice
During this past year, in its first interpretation of new United States Supreme Court precedent on the right to confront witnesses, the New York Court of Appeals reversed the conviction
of a Criminal Appeals Bureau client and found that he had been denied the right to confront
and cross examine witnesses against him in the presentation of his insanity defense.
In another major Appeals Bureau case, the New York Court of Appeals held that clients
are not required to admit possession of contraband on a motion to suppress evidence seized by
the police. Likewise, in a landmark Appeals Bureau post-conviction case, the Second Circuit
Court of Appeals concluded that New York State had violated the right to a public trial of two
clients accused of non-violent drug offenses by excluding their family members from the courtroom during the testimony of crucial prosecution witnesses.
The Bureau continued its efforts to expand post conviction services for our clients. Since
the Legislature amended the “Rockefeller drug law,” the Bureau has represented more than 200
clients in their re-sentencing petitions. During the past year, Appeals Bureau lawyers have also
become experts in the handling of Sexual Offender Registration Act hearings and represented
more than 50 clients at hearings classifying their registration status.
Seymour James Jr.
Attorney-in-Charge of the
Criminal practice
During the past year, pro bono volunteers working with Society staff represented about 75
clients in appeals to the Appellate Divisions, drug re-sentencing cases, state collateral challenges
and federal habeas corpus proceedings. Eleven law firms collaborated with the Society to represent clients in applying for re-sentencing relief from “Rockefeller drug law” prison sentences.
Proskauer Rose LLP and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP led the way, along with
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP;
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; O’Melveny & Myers; Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP;
Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP; Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft; DLA Piper Rudnick
Gray Cary US LLP; and clinical programs at Columbia University and CUNY law schools. Ten
additional law firms accepted criminal appeals assignments supervised by the Criminal Appeals
Bureau: Arnold & Porter LLP; Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Dewey
Ballantine LLP; Kaye Scholer LLP; Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP; Shearman & Sterling
LLP; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP; White & Case LLP; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
Special Litigation Representation Helps Large Numbers Of New Yorkers –
During this past year, in a victory for any New Yorker whose car has been seized after an arrest,
the Criminal practice Special Litigation Unit successfully argued in the United States Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit that prosecutors are required to justify to a judge the need to
hold a vehicle as evidence. The holding was the first to require judicial review before automobiles can be retained for use as evidence at a criminal trial.
The Society’s Parole Representation Helps Clients Get a Second Chance – The
Society’s Parole Revocation Defense Unit was founded in 1972 and was the first office in the
nation established to exclusively represent people discharged from prison to community supervision. Over the past year, the Parole Unit continued to serve as the primary provider of representation to parolees charged with violating conditions of their release from prison. The Unit
has achieved considerable success diverting mentally ill and drug addicted clients from prison
to community-based treatment programs.
The Parole Unit has also developed a substantial habeas corpus practice. In a recent case,
Society staff secured the release of a client who had been denied a preliminary hearing as a
result of a fraudulent entry by a parole officer indicating that the client had waived the hearing.
Ted Levine, a Vice Chair of the
Board, and Seymour James,
Attorney-in-Charge of the
Criminal Practice, back row left,
visited the Society’s Defender
Legal Assistants Program at
Rikers Island to meet with staff
there. Pictured are, seated left to
right: Saundra J. Mills, Ulex
George, Kasandra Robinson
and Nadine Johnson. First row
standing, left to right: Marie L.
Washington, Director of the
Program; Pauline Quiñones,
Benjamin Siebel, Adrienne
Branch, Robert Febles and Guy
C. Mills. Back row standing left
to right: Ted Levine, Seymour
James, Yvonne Nicks, Charles
Glover Jr., Diego Gerardi,
Kenneth A. Walcott.
In another case illustrating the need for zealous representation, Parole staff established that an
immigrant woman in Florida Family Court was misidentified as a New York parole violator, and was
then flown to New York to face a parole revocation proceeding. She was languishing in jail on Rikers
Island until Society staff obtained a court order requiring that the Division of Parole take the client’ s
fingerprints, which established that she had been wrongly identified.
Orison S. Marden Awards
The 2006 Orison S. Marden recipients are: JASMIN LEWIS, a paralegal in the
Manhattan Criminal Defense Office; STEVEN GODESKI, a staff attorney in the
Civil practice’s Bronx neighborhood office; PASCAL NIJHOF, Grants and
Program Manager for the Civil practice; and JOHN BOSTON, Director of the
Prisoners’ Rights Project.
The Orison S. Marden Awards were established in 1976 on The Legal Aid
Society’s 100th anniversary to recognize the outstanding work and dedication of
the staff of the Society and to honor the memory of Orison S. Marden, a senior partner at White & Case
LLP, who was known as “Mr. Legal Aid” throughout the United States. Mr. Marden devoted four decades
to the work of the Society. He served as a member of the Board of Directors for 27 years and as its
Chairman from 1970 until his death in 1975. He was a devoted volunteer at the Civil practice’s Harlem
neighborhood office where he represented hundreds of clients over the years. During his outstanding
career, he served as the President of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Past Recipients of the Orison S. Marden Award
1976
Irene Parker Betner
Julius Biervliet
1985
Michael Paciello
Eve S. Plotkin
1994
Jonathan Latimer
Margaret O’Marra
1977
Harold Townes
Milton Adler
1986
Ruth Lichter
Lawrence Halfond
1995
Irma Camacho
Barbara H. Dildine
1978
Ruby Harrison Adorno
Mara T. Thorpe
1987
Delzorra Preshae-Wilson
Paula Semmes Deutsch
1996
Willie Rivera
Deborah Kaplan
1979
Elise Stark
Margaret H. McDowell
1988
Daniel Barrett
Andrew C. Fine
1997
Marguerite Piazza
Susan Sternberg
1980
Erma Saunders Brooks
Morton B. Dicker
1989
Nelson Rivera
Thomas V. Curtis
1981
Emma C. Stucchio
Myra K. Wallach
1990
Herbert Grant
David I. Waldman
1998
Richie Flores
Jerry Washington
Kay McNally
1982
Maria Lebron
Robert Kaplan
1991
Ligia Rivers
Michele Maxian
1983
George C. Colon
Joan F. Mangones
1992
Akil Al-Jundi
Steven Banks
1984
Sonia Robles
Sigmund Israel
1993
Angelina Cooper
Roland Thau
1999
Phyllis Cherebin
Cynthia Wolpert
Pedro Caban
2000
Janet Sabel
Rita Horvath
Nancy Ginsberg
Patricia Thorne
2001
Dan Kessler
Edward Braunstein
Candace Kurtz
Andre Rodriguez
2002
Harold Mandelbaum
Mel Schubert
Alla Reznik
José Torres
2003
Marie A. Richardson
Nanette Schrandt
Marcia Egger
Vera Mitchell
2004
Melvin Kenny
Aida Ramos Herrera
Edward McCarthy
Robert Zuss
2005
Ernst Giordani
Cassandra Dorvil
Eileen McCann
Marshall Green
Recognition of Pro Bono Service
The Legal Aid Society's 2006 Pro Bono Awards and Law Firm Recognition ceremony
was held on November 6, 2006, in recognition of the outstanding contributions of
individual lawyers, law firms, corporations
and other organizations to the cause of equal justice.
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP was the recipient of the 2006 Outstanding Pro Bono Publico and
Public Service Law Firm Award for the outstanding pro bono work performed by the law firm, its
partners and associates for the low-income clients of The Legal Aid Society. Individual partners
and associates at the firm are being recognized for the successful federal law reform litigation
involving immigrant domestic violence survivors who were denied benefits. In addition,
associates from the firm staff the Society’s immigration hotline, assisting in the defense of
detainees facing deportation. For the last 15 years, HHR has provided pro bono representation
through Legal Aid’s AIDS Project at the HIV/AIDS clinic at Beth Israel representing women who
need to plan for the future of their children and other legal matters.
Honor Roll
In recognition of the outstanding commitment of the following law firms,
corporations and other organizations to the cause
of equal justice through pro bono service.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Baker Robbins & Company
Butler Rogers Baskett Architects
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
CB Richard Ellis
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Columbia Law School’s Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP
Covington & Burling
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Dechert LLP
Dewey Ballantine LLP
Doar Litigation Consulting
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Holland & Knight LLP
Kaye Scholer LLP
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
LeBouef, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP
Lehr Construction Corporation
Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips, LLP
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
mindSHIFT Technologies
Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, PC
National Economics Research Associates
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
Pfizer Inc.
Proskauer Rose LLP
Pryor Cashman Sherman & Flynn LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Thompson Hine LLP
Viacom Inc.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
White & Case LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Chief Judge Judith S.
Kaye presided over the
Pro Bono Award
Ceremony on
December 5, 2005, at
Shearman & Sterling
LLP. With the Chief
Judge are:
Alexander D. Forger, a
former President and a
former Chairman of the
Society, who has been
instrumental in the creation of a Board of
Advisers.
Daniel Kolb, a Director
of the Society and a
partner at Davis Polk &
Wardwell, who has led
the effort for expanded
law firm support after
the restructuring.
David Klingsberg, a
Director of the Society
and a partner at Kaye
Scholer, who has
organized the Helen L.
Buttenwieser Senior
Attorney Project.
Lorenzo Cleveland and Nicholas Vidal are clients of the Kathryn A. McDonald
Education Project of the Juvenile Rights practice. They are meeting their new
lawyers from Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP. The firm initiated a special pro bono
advocacy project in partnership with the Society. From left are: Yael Aufgang, an
associate; Roger Meltzer, a member of Cahill’s Executive Committee; and Howard G.
(Peter) Sloane, a Cahill partner.
Cooley Godward Kronish Associates Greg Plotko (left) and Michael Klein (right) discuss case strategy with Bryan Lonegan of the Society’s Immigration Unit, and Alan
Levine, partner in charge of Cooley’s New York office, regarding a 28-year-old mentally ill Russian refugee who had been sexually assaulted as a minor in Russia. Mike
and Greg’s extensive pre-trial submissions, including psychiatric evaluations, witness
preparation, and sincere compassion for the client convinced the judge and the government’s lawyer to grant her one more chance and to release her to her family.
They were recognized at the Society’s 2006 Pro Bono Awards ceremony at
Shearman & Sterling LLP.
David W. Weschler and Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye present
awards for outstanding service to Damon Rowe and Vilia Hays of
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP. Teams of lawyers from the firm
have assisted thousands of families and individuals over the last
15 years by providing pro bono representation at the ambulatory
HIV/AIDS clinic at Beth Israel Medical Center.
Judith Goldiner, staff attorney in the Civil Law Reform Unit and a housing expert, discusses a case with the client and attorneys from Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.
GOLDSTEIN GOLUB KESSLER LLP
Certified Public Accountants and Consultants
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT
The Board of Directors
The Legal Aid Society
We have audited the accompanying statement of financial position of The Legal Aid Society (the
"Society") as of June 30, 2006, and the related statements of activities, functional expenses, and
cash flows for the year then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Society's
management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our
audit. The prior-year summarized comparative information has been derived from the Society's
2005 financial statements and, in our report dated November 17, 2005, we expressed an unqualified
opinion on those financial statements.
We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United
States of America. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstateme nt. An audit
includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the
financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant
estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation.
We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the
financial position of The Legal Aid Society as of June 30, 2006, and the changes in its net assets
and its cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States of America.
GOLDSTEIN GOLUB KESSLER LLP
October 13, 2006
1185 Avenue of the Americas Suite 500 New York, NY 10036-2602
TEL 212 372 1800 FAX 212 372 1801 www.ggkllp.com
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
Year ended June 30,
2006
2005
$ 6,602,500
$ 10,909,337
11,586,998
11,343,237
ASSETS
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Receivables from Governmental Agencies
Contributions Receivable, net
Investments, at fair value
237,368
2,123,607
2,062,818
Deferred Charges and Other Assets
383,901
552,047
Property and Equipment, at cost, net
9,358,438
11,123,438
$ 30,055,444
$ 36,228,245
$ 3,235,655
18,757,401
4,471,845
16,127,856
16,469,466
14,428,538
$ 5,181,376
18,358,264
5,562,004
16,140,876
16,643,115
31,091,712
73,490,761
92,977,347
(16,371,600)
(4,519,092)
(16,469,466)
(9,909,446)
(12,824,939)
(10,088,133)
(16,643,115)
(21,003,579)
(47,269,604)
(60,559,766)
1,778,264
2,056,023
1,754,641
2,056,023
(43,435,317)
(56,749,102)
Total Assets
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSET DEFICIENCY
Liabilities:
Accounts payable and accrued expenses
Accrued payroll and other employee expenses
Program advances
Deferred lease incentives and lease obligations
Accrued postretirement health and life insurance benefits cost
Pension liability
Total liabilities
Commitments and Contingencies
Net Assets:
Unrestricted:
Undesignated
Accrued pension liability
Accrued postretirement health and life insurance benefits cost
Accumulated minimum pension liability adjustment
Total unrestricted
Temporarily restricted
Permanently restricted
Total net asset deficiency
Total Liabilities and Net Asset Deficiency
$ 30,055,444
$ 36,228,245
See Notes to Financial Statements
2
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
(with summarized financial information for the year ended June 30, 2005)
2006
Year ended June 30,
Total
Summarized
Comparative
Total
$ 88,121,046
3,142,567
25,579,175
13,737,135
28,474,575
11,407,102
$ 84,536,569
9,765,969
24,454,652
12,949,689
20,256,122
9,162,873
244,393
1,780,762
526,148
3,996,638
19,067
235,259
136,797
173,012,903
165,513,635
83,298,286
2,750,122
25,085,030
19,976,320
28,474,575
83,298,286
2,750,122
25,085,030
19,976,320
28,474,575
80,953,789
10,040,053
23,094,920
21,775,170
20,256,122
159,584,333
159,584,333
156,120,054
10,467,743
741,175
10,467,743
741,175
8,894,733
708,186
Unrestricted
Support and revenue:
Program support and revenue:
Criminal Defense Practice
Federal Defender Practice
Juvenile Rights Practice
Civil Practice
Pro Bono Services
Contributions
Insurance recoveries relating to the events of
September 11, 2001
Return on investments, net
Court awards for services
Other income
Net assets released from restrictions satisfaction of program and time restrictions
Total support and revenue
Operating expenses:
Program services:
Criminal Defense Practice
Federal Defender Practice
Juvenile Rights Practice
Civil Practice
Pro Bono Services
Total program services
Supporting services:
Administrative expenses
Fund-raising expenses
2005
$ 88,119,796
3,142,567
25,283,644
11,241,062
28,474,575
11,407,102
183,453
1,780,762
526,148
2,830,171
172,989,280
Temporarily
Restricted
$
Permanently
Restricted
1,250
295,531
2,496,073
60,940
(2,830,171)
23,623
Total supporting services
11,208,918
11,208,918
9,602,919
Total operating expenses
170,793,251
170,793,251
165,722,973
Restructuring income:
Special contributions
Net settlement on sale of building
and other creditors
Pro bono legal and other services
6,153,248
6,761,989
2,755,919
Total restructuring income
15,671,156
Restructuring expense:
Creditor settlements
Pro-bono legal and other services
Pension curtailment and settlement
1,445,181
2,755,919
7,273,352
Total restructuring expense
11,474,452
Change in net assets before pension
liability adjustment
2,196,029
Minimum pension liability adjustment
11,094,133
Change in net assets
13,290,162
Net assets (deficiency) at beginning of year
Net assets (deficiency) at end of year
23,623
23,623
2,219,652
3,987,366
11,094,133
(3,152,786)
13,313,785
834,580
(60,559,766)
1,754,641
$ 2,056,023
(56,749,102)
(57,583,682)
$ (47,269,604)
$ 1,778,264
$ 2,056,023
$ (43,435,317)
$ (56,749,102)
See Notes to Financial Statements
3
91,714
285,610
$ 83,298,286
$ 85,208,618
Total 2005 expenses
83,298,286
$ 10,515,528
$ 2,750,122
2,750,122
640,165
19,430
42,505
49,696
67,848
14,987
66,228
3,600
12,869
519,457
565,401
739,338
551,673
166,068
116,806
85,048
178,758
9,821,511
271,288
2,109,957
$ 1,186,662
303,411
619,884
Federal
Defender
Practice
6,613,352
73,476,775
$ 45,836,864
10,196,764
17,443,147
Criminal
Defense
Practice
Total 2006 expenses
Restructuring expenses:
Creditor settlements
Pro bono legal and other services
Pension curtailment and settlement
Total expenses before restructuring
Total other expenses
Other expenses:
Occupancy costs
Contributed legal services
Communications expenses
Office operating expenses
Purchases and leases of furniture and equipment
Law books and reference materials
Trial minutes
Cost of investigations and expert witnesses
Professional services
Transportation
Interest
Other
Total employee expenses
Employee expenses:
Professional staff salaries
Support staff salaries
Fringe benefits and other employee costs
Year ended June 30,
$ 24,282,045
$ 25,085,030
25,085,030
2,826,037
278,760
181,419
142,150
269,901
219,931
178,025
18,336
67,510
47,516
1,422,489
22,258,993
$ 12,401,249
4,575,700
5,282,044
Juvenile
Rights
Practice
$ 22,786,269
$ 19,976,320
19,976,320
3,121,884
130,714
176,782
183,127
343,195
229,861
7,218
3,984
6,084
38,045
2,002,874
16,854,436
$ 9,661,819
3,186,046
4,006,571
Civil
Practice
Program Services
Pro Bono
Services
$ 20,256,122
$ 28,474,575
28,474,575
28,474,575
$ 28,474,575
2006
$ 163,048,582
$ 159,584,333
159,584,333
44,884,172
786,798
10,310,003
28,474,575
897,088
933,183
1,402,130
1,069,313
366,298
205,354
162,242
277,188
114,700,161
$ 69,086,594
18,261,921
27,351,646
Total
Program
Services
$ 13,413,684
$ 10,467,743
10,467,743
4,773,378
768,546
16,175
143
1,043,297
61,843
300,395
129,742
61,174
5,294
2,386,769
5,694,365
$ 2,555,565
1,769,180
1,369,620
Administrative
$735,159
$741,175
741,175
232,532
85,524
57,398
297
473
121
101
76,941
11,677
508,643
$270,406
115,897
122,340
Fundraising
$ 170,793,251
170,793,251
49,890,082
12,708,449
28,474,575
959,032
1,310,519
1,531,872
1,130,960
371,713
205,354
988,186
293,660
143
1,915,619
120,903,169
$ 71,912,565
20,146,998
28,843,606
Total
$ 177,197,425
1,445,181
2,755,919
7,273,352
165,722,973
45,452,255
15,401,918
20,256,122
1,305,212
2,045,912
1,514,811
938,700
462,315
434,882
952,308
401,993
737,425
1,000,657
120,270,718
$ 70,704,507
20,719,182
28,847,029
Summarized
Comparative
Total
4
See Notes to Financial Statements
$ 14,148,843
$ 11,208,918
11,208,918
5,005,910
825,944
16,472
143
1,128,821
61,944
377,336
129,742
61,647
5,415
2,398,446
6,203,008
$ 2,825,971
1,885,077
1,491,960
Total
Supporting
Services
Supporting Services
2005
(with summarized financial information for the year ended June 30, 2005)
STATEMENT OF FUNCTIONAL EXPENSES
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
Year ended June 30,
Cash flows from operating activities:
Change in net assets
Adjustments to reconcile change in net assets to net cash
provided by (used in) operating activities:
Amortization of deferred lease incentives
Amortization of deferred lease obligations
Depreciation and amortization
Realized and unrealized loss on investments
Net settlement on disposal of building
Other creditor settlements
Accrued pension liability and postretirement health and
life insurance benefits cost
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Increase in receivables from governmental agencies
Decrease in contributions receivable
Decrease in deferred charges and other assets
Decrease in deferred lease incentives and obligations
Increase in accrued payroll and other employee expenses
Decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses
(Decrease) increase in program advances
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of investments
Decrease in funds held by bond trustee
Purchases of property and equipment
Disposal of property and equipment
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities
2006
$ 13,313,785
(634,580)
621,560
1,821,156
(16,836,823)
(243,761)
237,368
168,146
2005
$
834,580
(634,580)
2,222,118
3,676,194
40,900
(1,204,462)
(5,557,527)
6,673,817
399,137
(1,945,721)
(1,090,159)
(4,018,234)
3,012,632
9,149,555
(2,278,998)
567,188
(10,682,071)
2,173,438
(4,189,892)
3,974,550
(60,789)
(56,156)
(116,945)
Cash flows from financing activities:
Principal payments on capital leases
Payment on loan payable
Payment on long-term debt
(2,056,023)
3,872,656
(1,340,054)
8,000,000
8,476,579
(779,108)
(2,256,371)
(10,045,000)
Cash used in financing activities
(13,080,479)
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents
(4,306,837)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year
10,909,337
11,538,687
$ 6,602,500
$ 10,909,337
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year
(629,350)
See Notes to Financial Statements
5
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
1. ORGANIZATION:
The Legal Aid Society (the "Society") is a not-for-profit corporation founded in
1876 that provides legal services to the indigent of New York City through a
number of operating practices. The Criminal Defense practice, which provides
the majority of trial level public defender services in New York City as well as
Criminal Appeals, Parole Revocation and (prior to May 1, 2005) Capital Defense
services, is financed through contracts with the City and State of New York. The
Juvenile Rights practice is financed principally through a contract with the
Office of Court Administration of the State of New York. The Civil Practice
relies on contracts with agencies of the City and the State of New York and
federal government, as well as on financial support from the public, including
foundations, law firms, corporations and individuals. The Federal Defender
practice, which is funded entirely by a contract with the Administrative Office of
the United States Courts, separated from the Society on October 1, 2005.
Management does not expect the separation to have a significant impact on the
results of operations in future years.
Although the Society is not a governmental institution, it receives significant
program revenue and other support through government contracts that are
entered into on a periodic basis and are cancelable at any time. As a general rule,
those contracts provide revenue to cover expenses of funded programs where
there is a current cash cost associated with the expenses.
At June 30, 2006, the Society had a net asset deficiency of $43,000,000 due to
substantial accumulated liabilities on its statement of financial position reflecting
a variety of deferred costs, including postretirement health and pension benefits,
deferred compensation and deferred lease obligations. This amount was
$13,000,000 lower than at the end of the prior fiscal year. During 2005 and
2006, through concerted efforts of the board and management, the Society has
taken a number of significant steps to reduce those liabilities and to prevent any
further build-up (see Note 10 - restructuring). Management expects these
liabilities to continue to decrease over time, and continues to review the Society's
policies and programs with a view to dealing effectively with any continuing
challenges to the Society's financial position or liquidity.
2. SUMMARY OF
SIGNIFICANT
ACCOUNTING
POLICIES:
Basis of accounting - The financial statements of the Society have been
prepared on the accrual basis. In the statement of financial position, assets and
liabilities are presented in order of liquidity or conversion to cash and their
maturity resulting in the use of cash, respectively.
Financial statement presentation - The classification of a not-for-profit
organization's net assets and its support and revenue is based on the existence or
absence of donor-imposed restrictions. It requires that the amounts for each of
three classes of net assets - unrestricted, temporarily restricted and permanently
restricted - be displayed in a statement of financial position and that the amounts
of change in each of those classes of net assets be displayed in a statement of
activities.
6
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
The net assets of the Society and changes therein are classified and reported as
follows:
(i) Unrestricted
Unrestricted net assets represent those resources that are not subject to
donor restrictions. Unrestricted amounts may be designated by the board of
directors to cover any purposes determined by the Society.
(ii) Temporarily restricted
Net assets resulting from contributions and other inflows of assets whose
use by the Society is limited by donor-imposed stipulations that either
expire by passage of time or can be fulfilled and removed by actions of the
Society pursuant to those stipulations. When such stipulations end or are
fulfilled, such temporarily restricted net assets are reclassified to
unrestricted net assets and reported in the statement of activities.
(iii) Permanently restricted
Net assets resulting from contributions and other inflows of assets whose
use by the Society is limited by donor-imposed stipulations that neither
expire by passage of time nor can be fulfilled or otherwise removed by
actions of the Society.
Use of estimates - In preparing financial statements in conformity with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America,
management is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the
reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosures of contingent assets
and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and revenue and expenses
during the reported period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Cash and cash equivalents - For purposes of the statement of cash flows, the
Society considers all highly liquid debt instruments purchased with a maturity of
three months or less to be cash equivalents, except for such investments
purchased by the Society's investment managers as part of their long-term
investment strategies.
Contributions receivable - The Society reports unconditional promises to give
as contributions. If amounts are expected to be collected in less than one year,
they are recorded at the estimated realizable amount. If contributions receivable
are to be paid to the Society over a period of years, they are recorded at the
present value of their estimated future cash flows using a risk-free rate.
Investments - Investments in equity and debt securities are stated at their fair
values based on quoted market prices. Investment return is allocated among
unrestricted and temporarily restricted net assets, based on donor restrictions or
the absence thereof. Interest, dividends, and net appreciation (depreciation) in
fair value of investments are included in investment return in the statement of
activities.
7
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
Property and equipment - Depreciation of property and equipment is computed
using the straight-line method and charged to expense over the estimated useful
lives of the assets, ranging primarily from 3 to 10 years.
Leasehold improvements are amortized over the estimated useful life of the asset
or the term of the lease, whichever is shorter.
Program advances - Program advances represent advances from third parties
for services not yet performed.
Court awards for services - Fees are awarded by the courts for certain cases
handled by the Society. However, payment of such awards generally occurs in
years subsequent to the year in which the service was performed. As the amount
of awards earned in a year cannot be estimated, awards revenue is recognized
upon receipt.
Revenue and support - Contracts awarded by governmental agencies are
recognized as revenue in the unrestricted net asset class as the related services
are performed.
The Society records as revenue the following types of contributions when they
are received unconditionally, at fair value: cash, promises to give, certain
contributed services and gifts of long-lived assets and other assets. Conditional
contributions, including cost reimbursement grants, are recognized as support
when the conditions on which they depend have been substantially met.
Contributed services which of services provided by attorneys on a pro bono basis
are recorded as revenue and expenses at the fair value , based on the attorneys'
average billing rates.
Contributions and promises to give - Contributions and promises to give are
recorded as revenue when either unsolicited cash is received or when donors
make a promise to give. Contributions and promises to give are classified either
as unrestricted, temporarily restricted or permanently restricted support, based on
the donor's intent.
Tax-exempt status - The Society is qualified as a Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
organization under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (the "IRC") and,
accordingly, is not subject to federal income taxes. As a not-for-profit
organization, the Society is also exempt from New York State and New York
City sales and income taxes. The Society has been classified as a publicly
supported charitable organization under Section 509(a)(1) of the IRC and
qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction for donors.
Functional allocation of expenses - The costs of providing the various
programs and other activities have been summarized in the statement of
activities. Accordingly, certain costs have been allocated around the programs
and supporting services benefited.
8
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
Concentration of credit risk - Financial instruments which potentially subject
the Society to concentration of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash
equivalents. At various times, the Society has cash deposits at financial
institutions which exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation
insurance limits. The Society has not experienced any losses on these accounts.
Reclassifications - Certain prior-year balances have been reclassified to be
consistent with the current-year financial statement presentation.
The
reclassifications had no impact on changes in net assets.
Prior-year summarized comparative information - The accompanying
financial statements include certain prior-year summarized comparative
information in total but not by net asset class. Such information does not include
sufficient detail to constitute a presentation in conformity with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Accordingly,
such information should be read in conjunction with the Society's financial
statements for the year ended June 30, 2005, from which the summarized
information was derived.
3. INVESTMENTS:
The Society's investments at June 30, 2006 and 2005 consisted of short-term
investments held at a financial institution.
4. CONTRIBUTIONS
INCOME:
Contributions, excluding special contributions related to the restructuring, consist
of the following for the years ended June 30, 2006 and 2005:
June 30,
Contributions
Benefits and special events, net of related direct
expenses of $338,996 and $305,340, respectively
Bequests
5. PROPERTY,
EQUIPMENT AND
LEASEHOLD
IMPROVEMENTS:
2006
2005
$ 9,642,366
$7,835,744
1,750,769
13,967
1,220,644
106,485
$11,407,102
$9,162,873
Property, equipment and leasehold improvements are summarized as follows:
June 30,
Property and leasehold improvements
Furniture and equipment
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization
2006
2005
$ 9,146,937
8,284,537
$ 9,090,781
17,915,438
17,431,474
(8,073,036)
$ 9,358,438
27,006,219
(15,882,781)
$ 11,123,438
9
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
Depreciation and amortization of property and equipment amounted to
$1,821,156 and $3,676,194 for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2006 and 2005,
respectively. During fiscal year 2006, the Society wrote off fully depreciated
furniture and equipment of approximately $9,631,000.
6. COMMITMENTS:
As of June 30, 2006, annual future minimum (base) lease payments, which
exclude payments based on pass-through expenses and escalations under
noncancelable operating leases for all of the Society's facilities, are
approximately as follows:
Year ending June 30,
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Thereafter
$
8,846,000
8,521,000
8,134,000
7,033,000
7,033,000
103,578,000
$143,145,000
Several leases for office space contain escalation clauses related to the lessor's
real estate taxes, utilities and other building operating expenses. Rental expense
was approximately $9,103,000 and $9,337,000 for the years ended June 30, 2006
and 2005, respectively.
The Society received net incentives from certain landlords of approximately
$12,692,000 for the purchase of furniture and equipment and leasehold
improvements, which is included in deferred lease obligations and lease
incentives in the accompanying statement of financial position and is being
amortized over 20 years, the term of the respective leases. The balance of the
deferred lease incentive , including the value of certain rent-free periods, as of
June 30 2006 and 2005 is approximately $16,128,000 and $16,141,000,
respectively.
10
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
7. TEMPORARILY
RESTRICTED AND
PERMANENTLY
RESTRICTED
NET ASSETS:
Temporarily restricted net assets at each fiscal year-end were available for certain
program activities.
Net assets released from restrictions due to satisfaction of time and purpose
restrictions amounted to $2,830,000 and $6,637,000 during the years ended
June 30, 2006 and 2005, respectively.
Permanently restricted net assets are restricted to investment in perpetuity,
provide support for programmatic and general purposes, and consisted of the
following:
June 30,
Centennial Fund endowment
Other endowment funds
Melvin C. Steen Fellowship Fund
8. EMPLOYEE
BENEFIT PLANS:
2006
2005
$ 400,000
1,154,153
501,870
$ 400,000
1,154,153
501,870
$2,056,023
$2,056,023
Substantially all employees of the Society were covered by either The Legal Aid
Society Retirement Plan (the "Retirement Plan"), a defined benefit plan, or by
defined contribution plans. The defined contribution plans relate to staff
attorneys and other employees who are covered by union contracts entered into
by the Society under collective bargaining agreements. The Retirement Plan
relates to the Society's remaining employees.
Retirement Plan benefits are generally based upon years of service and salary of
the employee, as defined. The assets of the Retirement Plan consist primarily of
corporate bonds and equities. Effective July 1, 1999, the Society amended its
Retirement Plan to include a cash balance feature and a lump-sum option. On
November 30, 2004, the Society froze the accumulation of Retirement Plan
benefits as part of its restructuring program. Curtailment and settlement
expenses associated with the freezing of Retirement Plan benefits in fiscal year
2005 were categorized as restructuring expenses and amounted to approximately
$7,273,000. A new defined contribution plan for management and exempt
employees was established effective December 1, 2004. The Society recognized
contribution expenses related to this new plan of approximately $1,296,000 and
$350,000 in 2006 and 2005, respectively.
The Society funds its postretirement benefits other than pensions on a pay-asyou-go basis. Such benefits consist of medical, dental, vision and life insurance
premiums. Also on November 30, 2004, the Society reduced the postretirement
health and life insurance benefits as part of its restructuring program.
11
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
June 30,
Accumulated benefit
obligation at June 30
Curtailment
Settlement
Pension Benefits
2006
2005
$ 76,460,577
$ 13,318,150
$ 15,468,116
(3,474,552)
$ 95,603,286
1,099,702
(9,382,889)
$ 72,986,025
$ 87,320,099
$ 13,318,150
$ 15,468,116
$ 91,004,440
976,852
5,040,832
$ 15,468,116
387,422
763,401
1,872,220
(4,054,227)
(292,308)
$ 20,389,867
471,099
985,789
(4,839,943)
(515,512)
(826,474)
(1,023,184)
Change in benefit obligation:
Benefit obligation at
beginning of year
$ 87,320,099
Service cost
Interest cost
4,336,265
Amendments
Actuarial (gain) loss
(11,742,812)
Curtailment
Settlement
1,910,571
Benefits paid
(8,838,098)
Benefit obligation at
end of year
Postretirement
Health and Life
Insurance Benefits
2006
2005
6,267,629
(3,732,788)
1,085,684
(13,322,550)
$ 72,986,025
$ 87,320,099
$ 56,228,387
$ 62,620,820
4,791,689
7,467,279
(8,838,098)
(1,091,770)
5,005,911
2,489,194
(13,322,550)
(564,988)
$ 58,557,487
$ 56,228,387
$
Funded status
Unrecognized prior
service cost
Unrecognized net
actuarial loss (gain)
$(14,428,538)
$(31,091,712)
$(13,318,150)
$(15,468,116 )
(2,168,389)
(4,583,318)
Net amount recognized
$ (4,519,092)
Change in plan assets:
Fair value of plan assets
at beginning of year
Actual return on plan
assets
Employer contributions
Benefits paid
Expenses paid
Fair value of plan assets
at end of year
9,909,446
21,003,579
$(10,088,133)
$ 13,318,150
$ 15,468,116
$
$ 1,023,184
(1,023,184)
826,474
(826,474)
-0-
(982,927)
$(16,469,466)
$
-0 -
3,408,319
$(16,643,115)
(continued)
12
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
Postretirement
Health and Life
Insurance Benefits
2006
2005
Pension Benefits
2006
2005
June 30,
Amounts recognized in the
statement of financial
position consist of:
Accrued benefit liability
Accumulated minimum
pension liability
Net amount recognized
$(14,428,538 )
9,909,446
$ (4,519,092)
Components of net periodic
benefit cost :
Discount rate
Expected return on
plan assets
Rate of compensation
increase
Service cost
Expense cost
Interest cost
Expected return on
plan assets
Amortization of prior
service cost
Recognized actuarial
loss
Amortization of losses
Curtailment gain
Settlement
Net periodic cost
$(31,091,712 )
5.25%
21,003,579
$(10,088,133)
6.00% and 5.75%
8.5%
8.50%
3.50%
500,000
4,336,265
$
976,852
400,000
5,040,832
(4,734,508)
(4,699,524)
$
346,378
1,065,333
546,835
731,148
4,907,743
2,365,609
$ 1,898,238
$ 9,884,725
$ 387,422
$ 471,099
763,401
985,789
(370,070)
(256,625)
44,710
(172,639)
102,840
$ 652,824
$1,303,103
Weighted-average assumptions to determine pension benefit obligations at:
June 30,
2006
Discount rate
Rate of compensation increase
Expected return on plan assets
6.25%
N/A
8.5%
2005
5.25%
3.5%
8.5%
The projected benefit obligation was actuarially determined using an assumed
discount rate of 6.25%. The assumed rate of future increase in healthcare in 2006
was 10.0% and is expected to gradually decline to 4.5% over a six-year period.
13
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
Curtailment resulted from the voluntary termination program for nonunion
employees. Settlement expenses resulted from a higher than estimated rate of
employees selecting the lump-sum option for distribution.
The Society expects to contribute $2,533,000 to its defined benefit plan and
$832,000 to it postretirement benefit plans in fiscal year 2007.
The following benefit payments which reflect expected future service, as
appropriate, are expected to be paid as follows:
Year ending June 30,
Pension
Benefits
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012-2016
$ 6,000,000
6,200,000
6,400,000
7,100,000
5,900,000
27,700,000
Postretirement
Health and
Life Insurance
Benefits
$
832,000
869,000
901,000
926,000
939,000
4,985,000
The asset allocation of the Retirement Plan at June 30 is as follows:
June 30,
Pension Benefits
2006
2005
Asset category:
Cash
Equity securities
$
1,315
58,556,172
$ 788,019
55,440,368
Total
$58,557,487
$56,228,387
Postretirement
Health and Life
Insurance Benefits
2006
2005
The Society also makes contributions to union-sponsored defined contribution
plans in accordance with the provisions of negotiated labor contracts. Such
contributions are based on employee compensation, as defined. The Society
recorded expenses totaling approximately $3,568,000 in 2006, and $1,659,000 in
2005 related to such plans.
In addition, the Society accounts for long-term disability benefits in accordance
with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 112, Employers'
Accounting for Postemployment Benefits. The costs recognized in fiscal years
2006 and 2005 amounted to approximately $390,000 and $451,000, respectively.
14
THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2006
9. CONTINGENCIES:
There are a number of pending legal actions against the Society which, in the
opinion of management, will not result in material loss to the Society.
Certain grants and contracts may be subject to audit by the funding sources.
Such audits might result in disallowances of costs submitted for reimbursement.
Management is of the opinion that such cost disallowances, if any, will not have
a material effect on the accompanying financial statements. Accordingly, no
amounts have been provided in the accompanying financial statements for such
potential claims.
10. RESTRUCTURING:
During the second half of calendar year 2004, the Society implemented an
overall restructuring of its operations and financial position in an effort to
improve its long-term financial viability. This initiative enabled the Society to
eliminate a substantial operating loss projected for fiscal year 2005. The main
elements of this initiative were as follows:
•
Special contributions from New York City law firms;
•
Reduction in staff of approximately 220 positions;
•
Reduction in employee benefits;
•
Reduction in operating costs and operating systems improvements;
•
Settlement of outstanding obligations for accounts payable, loans payable
and long-term debt. Prior to 2005 the Society had a $9,000,000 line of
credit and a $9,000,000 bridge loan agreement with a financial services
institution. During 2005, the Society settled its obligations on these loans.
Interest expense under these obligations amounted to $337,957 for the year
ended June 30, 2005. The Society also settled its debt with The New York
City Industrial Development Agency. Interest costs on these bonds
amounted to $396,000 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2005.
•
Consolidation of office locations, including disposal of the Harlem building
and surrender of certain leases.
The restructuring resulted in net gains to the Society of $4,197,000, consisting of
gross revenue and gains amounting to $15,671,000 and gross costs and expenses
of $11,474,000.
15
K Laufer, Ellen N Lauter, Patricia A Lavelle, Joseph Lavine, Lisa Lavitt, Simone C Lawson, Valerie H Le Brew, Joann C Le Bright, Janet M Le Maire, Carl L Leacock,
Amber L Leaders, Felicia G Leak, Alan G Lebenbaum, Hwan-Hui Lee, Jeff Yuh-Fu Lee, Young W Lee, Joanne Legano-Ross, Andrew E Lehrer, Marty Lentz, Adrian
A Lesher, William A Lesman, Michael Z Letwin, Clifford D Levin, Simone A Levine, Steven Douglas Levine, Robin Levinson-Zalewski, Renee K Leviton, Jane Levitt,
Eric D Levy, Ezra C Levy, Allison M Lewis, Donna M Lewis, Dorothy A Lewis, Jasmin Lewis, Jennifer Y Lewis, Leif E Lewis, Michael K Lewis, Amy C Licht, Laura J
Lieberman-Cohen, Susan E Light, Vicki E Light, Beile M Lindner, Tamara S Ling, Lawrence Linzer, Erin B Liotta, Alan C Lippel, Susan L Litt, Nancy E Little, Meng
Jen Liu, Paul Liu, Kathryn L Liverani, Amanda J Lockshin, Melissa A Loehr, John Lombardo, Michele Lombardo, Bryan K Lonegan, Armando Lopez, Graciela Lopez,
Melinda Lopez, Zoraida Lopez, Oscar H Lopolito, Milande Louima, Kesha Louis, Raymond L Loving, Marianna Lowenfeld, Allison K Lowy, Roza Loziner, Martin M
Lucente, Gordon M Ludwig, Edmond C Lugo, Sheree A Lukowicz, Justine Luongo, Diane E Lutwak, Leonard S Lynch, Beth Lyons, Douglas B Lyons, Dianna Lysius,
Lorraine Maddalo, Anya Maddow-Zimet, Jacob Madubuko, Xinmia Malave, Yvette Malave, Rudolph F Maldonado, Wilfredo Maldonado, Kathleen M Maloney, Eileen
Malunowicz, Shreya Mandal, Andrew R Mandel, William T Mantlo, Marco A Marinez, Elizabeth A Maris, Russell D Markham, Ilana Marmon, Maud J Maron, Nizaly M
Marrero, Brad D Martin, Margaret W Martin, Conway C Martindale, Jocelyne G Martinez, Jose L Martinez, Mariella Martinez, Maximino Martinez, Mildred Martinez,
Marianela Martinez-Echevarria, Elaine C Martinez-Ortega, Katheryne M Martone, James Martorano, Lori A Masco, Irma A Mason, Bobette M Masson-Churin, Titus
Mathai, Nancy Matos-Rodriguez, Alexandra M Matta Quinones, Julia L Mattson, Michele Maxian, Walter J Mayott, Edward Gordon Mayr, Prudencio Maysonet, Eileen
A Mc Cann, Edward D Mc Carthy, Margaret Mc Clean, Colette M Mc Crae, Dorothy K Mc Donald-Starace, Lorraine C Mc Evilley, Deborah A Mc Gee, Thomas A Mc
Givney, Edna T Mc Goldrick, Amelia P Mc Govern, Patricia A Mc Govern, Caroline M Mc Grath, Sheneka Mc Kenzie Sage, Irmin B Mc Kenzie, Acola S Mc Knight,
Tanisha S Mc Knight, Kim M Mc Laurin, James M Mc Queeney, Peter L Mc Shane, Meighan M Mc Sherry, Steven L Mechanic, Mimi M Medina, Samuel Medina, Eric
D Meggett, Irene Melendez, Luisa Melian, Stanley H Melnick, Nisha Menon, Jennifer Menscik, Margarita Menuar, Sonia Mercado, Fern R Merenstein, Claire V
Merkine, Amy V Meselson, Richard A Meyerson, Jennifer Michaelson, Luz Y Milanes, Ezra M Miller, Joseph A Miller, Guy C Mills, Saundra J Mills, Tatyana Mints,
Steven J Miraglia, Heather D Misterka, Dawne A Mitchell, Peter R Mitchell, Vera T Mitchell, Renee F Mittler, Robert Moeller, Kate A Mogulescu, Cesar Molina, Cynthia
Molina-Santos, Marie I Mombrun, Michael J Monaghan, Curtis Moner, Lauren D Monosoff, Edwin Montano, Paul S Montgomery, Claudia E Montoya, S Maquita
Moody, Daniel C Moore, David L Moore, Hermine Moore, Michael E Moore, Mara Moradoff, Ana C Morales, Edward Morales, Jose A Morales, Lorca Morello, Amanda
C Moretti, Christen A Morgan, Florence Morgan, Martin H Morris, Siobhan M Morris, Susan Olivia Morris, Roslyn R Morrison, Colleen A Morrissey, Marie L Moser,
Theresa B Moser, Magnus Mukoro, Nicole M Mull, Katherine E Mullen, Luanne M Muller, Kerry B Mulvihill, Helen M C Munro, Fay A Munro-Cole, Gabriel R Munson,
Dennis R Murphy, Joyce Murphy, Michael Murphy, Eileen Murphy-Zadoff, Makela Murray, Michael J Murray, Stephen J Myers, Anyika K Nance, Sherry M Narodick,
Bharati Narumanchi, Lorin B Nathan, Maria E Navarro, John C Needham, Jose M Negron, Kenwyn M Nelson, Sheila Lin Nelson, William P Nelson, Edda Ness,
Patricia Nevergold, April A Newbauer, John A Newbery, Lucy C Newman, Robert C Newman, Elizabeth J Newton, William F Nicholas, Derek G Nichols, Yvonne C
Nicks, Yumi L Nielsen, Anna Niewdach, Pascale V Nijhof, Yvonne Nix, Michelle Iris Noah, Frantz Noel, Sateesh K Nori, Linda Norona, Russell Novack, Edwin I Novillo,
John M Novoa, Joanna E Nowokunski, Kevin V O’Brien, Thomas M O’Brien, John Burke O’Connell, Randi J O’Donnell, Niamh P O’Flaherty, Oona O’Flaherty, Scott
H O’Gara, Heather J O’Hayre, Margaret M O’Marra, Grace L Oboma-Layat, Judy Ocasio, Ward J Oliver, Milagros Oliveras, Efrain Olmo, Jeffrey L Olshansky, Lisa B
Orloff, Natalie M Orr, Rosalie Orta, Carlos A Ortiz, Elsie Ortiz, Kate S Paek, Lisa Palanjian, Tina Palazzo, Girish Panchal, Damjan Panovski, Latania Parham, Eun
Hai Grace Park, Sandra S Park, Wendy Park, Sean T Parmenter, Michael Pate, Vanessa Paugh, Emily K Paul, Diane H Pazar, Harold A Peaks, Alan L Peck, Robert
Peck, Rachel M Peckerman, Arthur N Peeples, Sandra Pemberton, Anne J Pentola, Mary B Peppito, Arthur Perahia, Michael A Perkins, Cornelius Perry, Pamela Ann
Peters, Teers Peterson, Polixene Petrakopoulos, Janet C Pew, Hollis V Pfitsch, Vance L Phillip, Vincent T Phillips, Valeria Philpot, James T Pierce, Richard B Pierret,
Asia P Pina, Jeniffer J Pinales, Michael Pineiro, Monica P Pinnock, Mary F Pinto, Salvatore L Pisano, Christopher P Pisciotta, James R Pitt, Laura L Pitter, Lisa N
Pitts, Jean M Pizzini, Alvin Player, Mia Plehn, Steven Plotkin, Stephen P Pokart, Aaron D Pollack, Deborah Pollack, Robert J Pollitto, Gene R Popowytsch, Allen S
Popper, Dawn J Post, Linda Postell, Laura Potter-Cahn, Linda M Poust Lopez, Ashwani Prabhakar, Frederic G Pratt, Zenobia D Prattis-Montgomery, Bethany S Pray,
Judith Preble, Norma Prescod, Gabrielle Prisco, Risa B Procton, Dominic J Profaci, Frank S Proscia, Elizabeth R Pruser, Gene W Pudberry, Noemi Puntier, Galina
Pyetranker, Veronica Pauline Quinones, Jennifer Quintana, Lillian Quintana, Kenneth Brian Rabb, Scott R Rabe, James B Radford, Patricia L Ragone, Karena L
Rahall, Jasmine Ramirez-Burgos, Ushadevi Ramjit, Stephanie J Ramos, Yolanda Ramos, Aida L Ramos-Herrera, Michael A Raskin, Kyla L Ratliff, Georgia Y RattrayGray, Philip S Rauch, Kai-lin H Rausch, Ora J Raymore-Kenlock, Natalie Bocca Rea, Marcus A Reina, Sara H Reisberg, Alison D Reisner, Jane E Remler, Wendy
Remy, Luz Jacqueline Requena-Rangel, Kenny Rey, Marie Lauthie Reyes, Mary Ellen G Reyes, Alex Reznik, Michael T Ricci, Joseph Richardson, Marie A
Richardson, Jeffrey Richman, Tasha N Ricks, Michael Riou, Cristina W Ritchie, Jennifer L Ritter, Alfredo B Rivera, Arnaldo Rivera, Edwin R Rivera, Janet I Rivera,
Jeffrey D Rivera, Migdalia Rivera, Nicholas Rivera, Ricardo Rivera, William Rivera, Yvette Rivera, Yevgeniya Rivkina, Jeffrey W Rizzo, Lauren L Roberts, Joan H
Robinson, Kasandra M Robinson, Yolanda Robles, Hara A Robrish, Natasha R Roche, Evan M Rock, Ana L Rodriguez, Andre S Rodriguez, Angela Rodriguez, Carmen
Rodriguez, Celena L Rodriguez, Lia A Rodriguez, Miriam Rodriguez, Osvaldo Rodriguez, Gwendolyn Rogers, James A Rogers, Patricia M Rogers, Raymond E
Rogers, Jacob B Rolls, Jonathan Roman, Luis A Roman, Lurica Roman, Rosemary R Roman-Hare-Bey, Antoinette M Romano, Vincent J Romano, Cristina Romero,
Michael P Rooney, Ismael Rosa, Mily R Rosa, Magda I Rosa-Rios, Armando Rosado, Jose F Rosado, Eve S Rosahn, Orlando Rosario, Sylvia Rosario, Ariane G
Rosen, Mimi Rosenberg, Scott A Rosenberg, Nancy Rosenbloom, Gertrude Rosenfeld, Joy Rosenthal, Mary R Ross, Timothy B Rountree, Ralph Henry Roye, Gail
Beth Rozansky, Emily Ruben, Michael P Ruben, Brett E Rubin, Stanley M Rubin, Paulette A Rubinsky, Scott L Rudnick, Hector M Ruiz, Ines L Ruiz, Deborah Fox
Rush, Judith B Russell, Dawn C Ryan, Theodora M Saal, Janet Ellen Sabel, Elizabeth Sack Felber, David B Sackiel, Ellen S Sacks, Louis D Sainvil, Diana R
Salierno, Jacqueline Samuels-Jaffee, Wanda Sanchez-Day, Gloria Sanders, Ronald Sanders, Sara A Sanders, Antoinette Sands, Nilsa A Saniel, Geida D Sanlate,
Marlene V Santana, Carol Santangelo, Mary R Santiago, Evelyn Santiago-Valdez, Ekaterini Saoulis, Eugene Sarchiapone, Louis S Sartori, Heather J Saslovsky,
Rachel L Saunders, Gerard C Savage, Lisa B Sbrana, Ann Marie Scalia, Randall R Schaefer, Kenneth D Schaeffer, Jeannie Schaldach, Joshua F Scheier, Ronald
T Schneider, Stacy Schneider, John C Schoeffel, Nanette Schrandt, Edna Schwartz, Kristina Schwarz, Eric A Scott, Marcia Seckler, Samantha C Seda, Nadia N
Seeratan, Ashok K Sehgal, Benjamin C Seibel, Douglas J Seidman, David G Seman, Julie A Sender, Amy B Serlin, Susan Sevin, Hasan Shafiqullah, Bejal J Shah,
Shekera Shahid, Taramanie Shakur, Melanie Dawn Shapiro, Rita J Shapiro, Efrat B Sharony, Irwin Shaw, Sophia L Shaw, Monica Sheehan, Wadeedah Sheeheed,
Nicole Sheindlin, Desiree Sheridan, Barbara J Sherman, Susan S Shin, Adam D Shlahet, Jane K Shortell, Khristina L Sibley, Cynthia K Sichenze, Debra Siegel,
Steven Silberblatt, Elana J Silberman, Jennifer A Siletti, Christine Siley, Benjamin A Silverman, Carolyn J Silvers, Anna Sim, Karen P Simmons, Kawan L Simmons,
Clark E Simpkins, Steven H Sindos, Gurmeet Singh, Lawrence J Siry, Shana E Skaletsky, Jennifer A Skidmore, Brian C Slater, Debra C Sloane, Dorothy Smalls,
Alexander D Smith, Denzil Smith, Elizabeth P Smith, Heather A Smith, Jodi R Smith, Michelle A Smith, Natalie L Smith, Sondra D Smith, Todd P Smith, Theresa M
Smoot-Robinson, Cassandra J Snyder, Marvin S Sobers, Gary Solomon, Meridith F Sopher, Angel Soto, Christopher J Spellman, Diane K Spicer, Malika S.J
Spruiell, Andrew M St Laurent, Shannon J Stallings, Sharon L Stapel, Adam T Starritt, Laura H Stasior, Robert Staten, Tamara A Steckler, Kenneth R Stephens,
David M Stern, Judith S Stern, Susan Sternberg, John Stewart, Barbara Stock, Jack Stoller, Yevgeny Strupinsky, Janelle L Stuart, Lisa-Ann N Stuart, Elaine
Stulbaum, Stephen G Sturman, Stacy-Ann E Suckoo, Jeffrey S Sugarman, Kannan Sundaram, Alice L Swenson, Dorine H Sylvester, Sharona M Tabacznik, Michael
C Taglieri, Meredith L Takahashi, Tanya Talaba, Stephen J Talaber, Jose A Tapias, Ian B Tarasuk, Sonia Tate-Cousins, Tennille M Tatum, Bret J Taylor, W Brett Taylor,
Emely A Terc, Stephen B Terry, Rumona Thadani, Sidney W Thaxter, Rosalina Then, Kathryn H Thiesenhusen, Anthony Thomas, Cheryl Thompson, Salome A
Thompson, Bettina H Thomsen, Raynita Thornton, Lisa M Timmes, Alia L Toran-Burrell, Marilyn Toro, Alba Iris Torres, Azalia Torres, Brunilda Torres, Joseph Torres,
Richard J Torres, Thomas Tracy, Rekha Trivikram, Matthew F Tropp, Andrew K Tso, Lisa E Tuntigian, Howard Turman, Rebecca D Turner, Roseanne Tzitzouris,
Ferdinand I Ubozoh, Chinyelu O Udoh, Jesse Uhrman, Louis Ullrich, Stella N Umutoni, Beth A Unger, John M Vaccaro, Jennifer M Valentin, Sandrine A Valentine,
Maria F Valvik, Norah E Van Dusen, Renee S Vanden Wallbake, Jessica Vargas, Marlene Vasquez, Anna Vaysleyb, Edwin Vega, Pedro J Vega, Rosemary Vellucci,
Linda M Venuto, Andrea M Veras, Nicholas J Vitek, John F Volpe, Laurence Voss, Jill L Wade, Andrea L Wagner, Eliezer Wagner, Judith Waksberg, Kenneth A
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O Weddle, Elizabeth E Weiner, Jessica S Weinstein, Danielle S Weisberg, Harvey Weiss, Hilary S Weiss, Ronald Weiss, Susan E Welber, Nathaniel Welkes, David
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Paul M Wiener, Dale A Wilker, Alison Wilkey, Diana Wilks, Edlyn L Willer, Cheryl N Williams, Cheryl P Williams, Deborah M Williams, Donald R Williams, Eric S
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Zablocki, Becky S Zalewski, Yonatan E Zamir, Mary Zaslofsky, Milton Zelermyer, Andrei V Ziabkin, Marnie L Zien, Sandra H Zucker
THE
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THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY
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