Volunteer Lawyers Project trains lawyers to be legal observers during rallies
The Volunteer Lawyers Project has been an integral part of the legal community by providing low-income Brooklynites with legal representation since it came on the scene in 1990. Traditionally, its role has been confined to the areas of family law, consumer debt, foreclosure intervention and elder law, however, the organization has recently been taking on additional work to help out the changing needs of the community.
In March, the group tried to help alleviate the needs of the borough’s vast immigrant community by offering continuing legal education (CLE) training for attorneys to help immigrants file their paperwork to become citizens. Now this month, the Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) has worked on training lawyers to be legal observers to help out during protests, rallies and marches.
On Monday, the VLP held a CLE seminar at the Brooklyn Bar Association called “Legal Observer Basic Training,” with Andy Izenson, an attorney with the NYC chapter of the National Lawyers Guild; and Dr. Jill M. Humphries, with the NY chapter of the National Conference of Black Lawyers.