Legal Aid Society celebrates 150th year

The Legal Aid Society is celebrating its 150th year anniversary with an exhibit at the New York Historical, opening this month. Photo via LAS

By Jacob Kaye

In 1876, a group of attorneys got together in New York City and decided to begin offering representation to low-income German immigrants.

One hundred and fifty years later, that same organization, now known as The Legal Aid Society, has grown to become the largest and oldest public defense and civil legal service nonprofit law firm in the country.

And its mission largely remains the same.

The Legal Aid Society is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, marking the occasion with an exhibition at The New York Historical, opening this week, and a series of celebrations in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs, including a September community day in Queens.

The milestone comes at a critical moment for civil liberties and criminal justice, both in New York and across the U.S., as the Trump administration challenges a number of legal norms, many of which The Legal Aid Society has moved to defend. The anniversary also comes at a time when the need for public defenders and civil legal services providers remains high, creating challenges for LAS as funding from the state and city lags behind the demand for the organization’s services, causing staffing shortages and high caseloads for its attorneys.

“The mission to ensure that no New Yorker is denied the right to equal justice absolutely exists today, and in fact, is unfortunately even more prevalent today,” Twyla Carter, the attorney-in-chief and CEO of The Legal Aid Society, told the Eagle. “Where we started is, in fact, exactly where we are today.”

Not much about the organization’s mission has changed over its 150 years, largely because the need to represent low-income New Yorkers in everyday court cases and to fight for larger policy changes and legal battles has never ceased.

While the German Legal Aid Society – LAS’ original name – handled a little over 200 cases during its first year, the organization in its current form claims that its work impacted more than 2 million low-income New Yorkers and their families last year. The organization handles criminal, civil, juvenile, housing, employment, healthcare, education, government benefits and immigration cases.

A number of its cases over the past century and a half have reshaped the criminal justice and civil legal landscapes in New York.

In 1972, the firm represented children and adults with disabilities who were living in poor conditions at the Willowbrook State Developmental Center. The case helped to establish the legal rights of people with disabilities and served as an impetus for the deinstitutionalization of New York’s psychiatric hospitals.

In 1994, LAS argued a case that resulted in the Court of Appeals issuing a landmark ruling, finding that government officials could be held in contempt for disobeying court orders to provide homeless New Yorkers with shelter. A little more than a decade later, LAS’ work on the case led to the city’s Right to Shelter laws.

More recently, the firm has represented detainees in the city’s jails, arguing that the violent conditions behind bars are a violation of their civil rights. After more than a decade of litigation, the case has resulted in the appointment of a remediation manager, who will soon assume day-to-day control over Rikers Island and the Department of Correction.

The Legal Aid Society is opening a exhibit celebrating its work over the past 150 years. Josh MacPhee

Outside of the courtroom, LAS has advocated for legislation aimed at protecting New Yorkers’ rights. In recent years, it campaigned for the passage of reforms to the state’s bail and discovery laws, and worked to get the Clean Slate Act passed into law.

It’s also launched campaigns to defend the laws as the governor and legislature have worked to scale them back.

“With every bit of reform and progress, the empire always strikes back,” Carter said. “We know that when we accomplish a goal of getting some sort of law change or reform passed, that that is actually the beginning of the fight.”

Many of its landmark cases and policy fights will be featured in an exhibit at The New York Historical on the Upper West Side of Manhattan running from March 6 to July 5.

The exhibit, titled “Delivering Justice: 150 Years of The Legal Aid Society,” will tell the story of Legal Aid’s work through never-before-seen photographs, press clippings, original documents and art created by young LAS clients.

Later in the year, the firm will celebrate its 150th year with “community joy” events in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens.

“We want New Yorkers to see themselves in this celebration,” Carter said. “Because Legal Aid belongs to the city.”