By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

COURT STREET — Attorneys from Brooklyn’s Legal Services offices rallied against their own organization’s leadership in Manhattan last night, to stop a plan that they say could lead to the closure of neighborhood offices.

LSNY (Legal Services of New York City) Executive Director Andrew Scherer has denied claims that planned consolidations would “eliminate the neighborhood-based Brooklyn A and likely merge it into a single, downtown-based, borough-wide program,� according to a press release from Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A (or Brooklyn A).

That single location could be with the offices of South Brooklyn Legal Services (SBLS), at 105 Court St. But Brooklyn A Project Director Marty Needelman told the Eagle, “[Scherer] has recently said publicly that there’s going to be changes and consolidation, and if it fails, he will leave.�

“This is not what I said,� Scherer responded. “The gist of what I said is that I believe that we are not now using our resources in Brooklyn as effectively as we can and that I believe we need to make changes to improve service delivery.�

“I think I said something to the effect that if the Board was to choose to leave things exactly the way they are, I would feel I needed to resign,� he continued. “I can’t imagine that I could be convinced that status quo is the optimal approach to client services.�

An estimated 200 people, including local community groups and low-income clients, were expected at the rally organized by attorneys from Brooklyn A outside LSNY’s headquarters.

While the rally was expected to take place on the street Tuesday evening, the 36-member Board of Directors heard the Brooklyn Planning Commission’s report on “the operation of delivery of civil legal services in Brooklyn,� according to LSNY Board minutes.

According to LSNY, restructuring is needed not because of budget cuts, but as part of a plan to make the organization more efficient and address increased community need, and there are no plans to consolidate offices in Downtown Brooklyn.

“It’s a rumor. Nothing has been planned,� said Edwina Frances Martin, LSNY communications director.

“We have five programs in Brooklyn right now,� she added. “That’s a lot of overhead.�

In Brooklyn, LSNY is represented by: SBLS, Brooklyn A, the Brooklyn Family Defense Project, Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services and Legal Services NYC-Brooklyn Branch (which serves the Jewish poor and Russian immigrants). Between the five branches, there are nine offices.

However, Martin said that an official restructuring plan won’t be introduced until December.

“[Needelman]’s making a lot of assumptions that aren’t based on anything,� Martin said.

But Needleman believes that there could be a multitude of negative results that stem from closing offices in Williamsburg, East New York and Bushwick.

“The plan to consolidate power from separate offices in Brooklyn undermines the original goal of Legal Services, which is neighborhood-based programs,� Needelman said. “It undermines the intimate connection with community groups.�

He said that before a previous consolidation, there were eight Legal Services offices in Manhattan — and now there are only two, one in the Financial District and one in Harlem. Low-income clients in Manhattan may be forced to travel to a specific office, he said.

“The problem for poor people is that their interests are not always represented first,� Needelman said.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net