Queens public defenders walk out amid contract negations with Legal Aid Society

Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society picket their firm’s office in Queens on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye

By Jacob Kaye

As contract negotiations between the Legal Aid Society and the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys become increasingly tense, public defense attorneys across the city went on a lunchtime work stoppage Wednesday.

The rallies, which could be seen in front of courthouses in all five boroughs, come about a week after the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys – UAW Local 2325 rejected a 2 percent salary increase offered by the Legal Aid Society.

Picketing in front of the Legal Aid Society’s office on Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens, attorneys alleged that management at the Legal Aid Society has yet to propose a wage increase that matches the needs of the lawyers, many of whom have seen their caseloads balloon in recent years. According to the attorneys, the increasing demands of the job have sent some of their colleagues looking for higher-paying positions.

“It's really disgusting that we're even being put in this situation, to be always trying to survive, scraping by with a law degree and with the amount of experience that we have,” said Pauloma Martinez, a criminal defense attorney whose worked for the Legal Aid Society in Queens for a little more than a dozen years.

“It just really goes to show the value that's put on our work as defense attorneys – in terms of how the city, how the state and how management at Legal Aid does not value our work, does not value our labor, and actually, is just stealing our labor,” Martinez added. “That's really what it comes down to.”

The labor contract, which expired last summer, has been under renegotiation for seven months. A final contract between the union and the Legal Aid Society, which gets a bulk of its funding from the state and city, is typically not reached until the budgets for both New York City and State have been nearly finalized, according to a Legal Aid Society spokesperson.

But while the length of the negotiations are not out of the ordinary, the length of time it's taken to get a firm salary increase offer from the Legal Aid Society is, the attorneys claim.

“We hadn't been getting any reasonable economic offer until last week,” Martinez said. “Still, the 2 percent, it's insulting and ridiculous.”

“But at least it's showing that they're willing to negotiate, which is a step in the right direction,” she added. “But it's still basically offensive.”

The attorneys claim that the salaries – which start at around $70,000 for attorneys coming to the Legal Aid Society straight out of law school – have not only not been commensurate with the work they do, but that they have led to increased attrition rates in what is the largest public defense group in the country. The Legal Aid Society currently has around 2,000 employees and 300 open positions.

“Despite high caseloads and inadequate resources, members fight every day for justice for poor and low-income New Yorkers,” said Lisa Ohta, the president of the union. “Management tells us they appreciate our work, but appreciation doesn’t pay the bills. All staff deserve raises that address high inflation and attrition.”

Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society say that contract negotiations between their union and the public defense firm have yet to reach a desirable end. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye

This year’s labor contract negotiations also come as public defense firms are dealing with increased caseloads in the city’s Housing Court. The implementation of Right to Counsel legislation, as well as the ending of the eviction moratorium at the start of last year, has led to civil defense attorneys carrying far more cases than they’ve ever had to at any point in their careers.

At various points last year, public defense firms throughout the city halted the intake of new cases as a result of the increase.

Claire Gavin, a Queens housing attorney who's been with the Legal Aid Society for four years, said that she’s currently carrying around 80 cases.

“Our caseload had completely skyrocketed,” Gavin said. “We're handling double or triple the amount of cases we're supposed to be handling.”

“It undermines the Right to Counsel because we're not able to properly represent folks,” Gavin added.

The union has called for caps on caseloads – which a number of other public defender firms have in place – during their negotiations with the Legal Aid Society, which have thus far been rejected.

In the Criminal Courts, public defense attorneys have also been seeing their workload increase.

Arrests were up in New York City last year and more cases are going to trial, which demands more resources, the attorneys say.

Discovery reform has also led to an increase in work for the attorneys, they say.

The reforms, which require that prosecutors turn over all evidence against a defendant to their attorney in a set time frame, were passed to prevent prosecutors from dumping evidence onto an attorney at the last minute before a trial began. However, both prosecutors and defense attorneys have had difficulty meeting the demands of the law.

But while both sides of the courtroom have struggled, only one side has been promised increased resources to deal with the reforms.

In her recently released executive budget, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed directing $40 million to prosecutors offices throughout the state to aid their discovery obligations but did not include any additional funding for public defense firms.

“We are extremely disappointed that Governor Hochul failed to include any proposed allocation in her Fiscal Year 2024 budget for public defender and legal services organizations to address staffing and operational demands, instead prioritizing the needs of prosecutors and others in law enforcement,” the Legal Aid Society said in a statement last week.

“Funding that favors one side of the legal system over all others reinforces bias and erodes efforts to further public safety,” they added.

Shanaz Chowdhury, a criminal defense attorney with Queens Defenders who was rallying in support of the Legal Aid Society lawyers on Wednesday, called the lack of discovery funding from the state “unacceptable.”

“We have to review the discovery and that takes a lot of time,” Chowdhury said. “They should be considering that and also giving us additional funding as a result, but they're not.”

A spokesperson for the Legal Aid Society said that the onus for higher salaries and smaller caseloads should be put on the state and city.

“We agree with ALAA that increased attrition, high workloads, and the need to pay competitive salaries to recruit and retain staff are all issues of immense concern facing Legal Aid and fellow local defender, civil legal services organizations, and Attorneys for Children providers,” the spokesperson said.

“However, this is a direct result of years of flat funding from the State and the City, and increasing rent, healthcare, labor and other operational costs that we’re forced to shoulder, compounded by a broken contract registration and payment process,” they added. “We join ALAA in calling on our funders to prioritize our urgent needs to ensure that low-income New Yorkers continue to have the zealous representation that they deserve.”

The union is expected to meet with leaders of the Legal Aid Society again next week to resume contract negotiations.

If the negotiations don’t begin to pick up steam, Martinez warned that the lunchtime picket could turn into something larger.

“It’s just the beginning – we have the power as workers to shut down the entire New York City Court system,” Martinez said. “So, they really need to take us seriously, they really need to fund us and they really need to pay us what our labor is worth.”