Hundreds of lawyers for low-income New Yorkers are on strike, but not yet Legal Aid

New York City’s largest public defender organization has avoided a strike for now, but hundreds of other attorneys have walked off the job over labor issues, threatening to disrupt some of the busiest courts in the country.

The Legal Aid Society voted to authorize a strike earlier this summer, as its attorneys fight for higher pay and better work conditions. The lawyers had threatened to walk off the job on Friday if management didn’t meet their demands, but their union announced early Friday morning that they would keep negotiating for another week.

In the meantime, Legal Aid’s approximately 1,100 unionized attorneys are still showing up to court to represent low-income New Yorkers facing criminal charges, deportation proceedings, evictions and child custody disputes. But as of Friday, more than 700 lawyers at seven other legal services organizations are on the picket lines in strikes that began over the last few days.

Nearly 300 of the striking attorneys work for the New York Legal Assistance Group, which provides representation in civil cases, including foreclosure proceedings, workplace discrimination lawsuits and asylum applications. More than 260 lawyers on strike work at Bronx Defenders, which represents about 20,000 low-income Bronx residents each year in criminal, civil, family and immigration courts. Dozens of striking attorneys represent New Yorkers fighting wrongful convictions, including the Center for Appellate Litigation and the Office of the Appellate Defender.

“At this point there have been no significant disruptions of court operations, and the courts remain fully open,” Al Baker, a spokesperson for the state Office of Court Administration, said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely and hope that the parties can arrive at an equitable agreement soon.”

Deanna Logan, director of the mayor’s office of criminal justice, said in a statement that the city has been working proactively to prevent the strikes from harming vulnerable New Yorkers.

“We are specifically mitigating potential disruptions by working with our contracted providers to get supervisors and directors to pick up cases, calling on our deep bench of private, pre-authorized attorneys to assist, and working closely with criminal and family courts to ensure that nobody is left without representation,” she said.

But Juval O. Scott, executive director of the Bronx Defenders, said in a statement that the organization is “deeply concerned” about the logistical implications of the strike. She said she respects the lawyers’ right to strike but that the nonprofit may have to turn away hundreds of people in need of legal representation while attorneys are on the picket lines.

“The people of the Bronx deserve high-quality legal representation, and my staff deserve to be paid their worth,” Scott said. “We implore the union and the city both to support us in seeking a swift resolution.”