New York State Bar Association recognizes Brooklyn’s Volunteer Lawyers Project
The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has recognized the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) with the 2017 Angelo T. Cometa Award during a ceremony earlier this month in Albany.
“I applaud the work of the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers’ Project,” said Elena Jaffe Tastensen, chair of the State Bar’s Committee on Lawyer Referral Service. “Countless low-income New Yorkers, who otherwise would have been unrepresented, have been served by the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project, and their network of pro bono attorneys.”
The VLP has worked since 1990 to provide pro bono legal service to Brooklynites who lack the financial means to hire an attorney. In 2016, the VLP trained and supervised more than 500 volunteer lawyers and other professionals, who intern provided 12,400 hours of free legal service in family law, elder law and consumer law cases.