Posted on February 17, 2012
Our Managing Attorney William Flynn met recently with students at Sarah Lawrence College to discuss career options in public interest law. Bill shared his own background and told how his desire to become an attorney began at a very young age; his inspiration was Atticus Finch. Bill said he chose C.U.N.Y Law School because of the diversity of the student population there.
Bill took questions from the students and offered advice about internships, choosing a law school, coping with the first-year law school workload, the economic trade-offs of a public interest career, and ways that attorneys in private firms can donate their services to those in need.
The son of two Freedom Riders, Bill grew up with a strong sense of social responsibility. Today, at Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, he puts his ideals into action by working to provide equal access to justice for those who cannot afford an attorney.
If you would like to schedule one our attorneys as a speaker for your school or community group, please contact us.
LSHV’s Bill Flynn pictured with some of the Sarah Lawrence students who attended his presentation.
Posted on February 10, 2012
Our attorney Patricia Angley and Nurse Practitioner Maura Del Bene of Lawrence Hospital Center joined forces recently at Gilda’s Club of Westchester to present information on The Family Health Care Decisions Act, The Palliative Care Access Act and The Palliative Care Information Act. The program was sponsored by the Cancer Coalition of Westchester.
In addition to heading our Medical-Legal Partnership Program at White Plains Hospital and managing her own caseload, Pat frequently conducts training sessions for cancer advocate groups including the Cancer Support Team in Mamaroneck, Support Connection in Yorktown Heights, and the American Cancer Society. She has also conducted a training session for the White Plains Hospital social work staff on The Family Health Care Decisions Act.
”Laws such as the Family Health Care Decisions Act are quite complex.” said Angley. ” Helping the patient advocates to understand these laws means even more patients will receive appropriate and accurate information.”
Pat also helps cancer patients directly with issues regarding their health care benefits, end of life planning, health care proxies, living wills, simple wills and stand-by guardianships. “Assisting patients with their legal issues is so gratifying for me because it means the patients can focus on getting well.”
If you have questions about your legal rights as they pertain to a medical condition, call us at: 1-877-574-8529.
LSHV Attorney Pat Angley
Posted on January 05, 2012
Submitted by Carol S. Neiditch, Esq, Director of Pro Bono Affairs
Employees of MBIA, Inc. have annually participated in an outreach volunteer project to mark the anniversary of 9/11. In honor of the 10th anniversary, members of the MBIA corporate counsel department decided to identify a program that would be specific to the legal arena. It was decided that because of their business background, MBIA attorneys would be ideally suited to help clients in the LSHV pro se Chapter 7 Bankruptcy program. LSHV does not have staff attorneys to handle Chapter 7 bankruptcies, and must depend on pro bono attorneys for help in these cases.
That program, instituted in 2009, seeks to address the need of impoverished debtors who want the protection of our bankruptcy laws, but cannot afford to hire an attorney to guide them through the process. LSHV developed a Chapter 7 Pro Se bankruptcy clinic designed to give individuals the information, advice and training they need to navigate the process. Experienced volunteer bankruptcy attorneys administer the clinics, and previously, LSHV had recruited a panel of volunteers to review the client-prepared petitions before the client filed the petition in Bankruptcy Court.
The business background of MBIA attorneys was a natural fit to help with such a program. After receiving training from a senior LSHV staff attorney, the MBIA attorneys had the opportunity to put their new skills to good use. They met with pro se clients at the LSHV White Plains office and offered pro bono advice and counsel to the clients by reviewing their petitions. The clients had previously participated in a pro se clinic. Appointments were set and MBIA attorneys met with the clients throughout an afternoon of in-house service on the designated day.
Not only did clients receive the benefits of free legal advice, but attorneys got the experience of direct interaction with clients and a view of legal needs that they did not see on a day-today basis. Many of the private attorneys expressed a real satisfaction at having had the opportunity to participate and expressed the hope that they repeat the experience. LSHV and MBIA look forward to further collaboration.
Posted on November 23, 2011
Hundreds turned out last night at New Rochelle High School, despite the steady rain, to implore the Westchester County Board of Legislators to preserve funding for crucial County support services including our Housing/Eviction Prevention Unit- which stands to be completely eliminated from next year’s budget. Several of our clients spoke about how our attorneys kept them from becoming homeless.
“Today I know for a fact that I would be out in the street in the rain right now,” said Jimmi Manning of New Rochelle, who praised the work of our Mount Vernon office for saving his apartment.
In his statement to the Legislators, our board member, and past board president Larry McGovern said, “I have served on the board of Legal Services since 1981. Thirty years. Count ‘em: thirty years. And never have I seen such irresponsible, draconian cuts to the services that keep our County as a worthwhile place to live for all citizens.”
“The irony here,” he continued, “is that Legal Services of the Hudson Valley saved the County $1.6 million dollars last year in shelter and related costs by keeping 744 families in their homes and not evicted. Pretty good bargain, don’t you think? Spend $400,000 and save $1.6 million.”
McGovern explained, “The 2012 Astorino budget totally eliminates the eviction prevention program of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. That amounts to a lethal cut of $443,223 that literally destroys our ability to help low-income families experiencing a housing emergency, emergencies where our assistance would help these families stabilize their situation. Add to this, additional cuts directly to our Mount Vernon office where more than 80 percent of our cases are housing emergencies; and then another cut for our program providing legal services to the elderly of our County. These three abysmal cuts total $526,885. Based on the number of families we helped last year with housing emergencies, Mr. Astorino’s budget cuts will put more than 700 families at risk of being thrown out on the street or forced to live in a County shelter. ”
Our Executive Director, Barbara Finkelstein said, “Budget makers talk about eliminating the “nice-to-haves” and keeping the “must-haves”. Is a roof over your head now considered a “nice-to-have” in Westchester?”
Two more hearings are scheduled: November 30, 7:00pm at Somers High School and December 6, 7:00pm at the Little Theater in the Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY.
Posted on November 22, 2011
My name is Jill Bradshaw-Soto and I am the managing attorney at the Southeast Office of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. I have been an attorney at Legal Services for 13 years and the last couple of years have been the most challenging of my career due to the atmosphere of desperation that currently exists among our client population.
The face of poverty has changed. Poverty no longer looks like the person who receives public assistance and food stamps and is perceived as being unwilling to work. Instead the new face of poverty is the County employee who has been laid off and is now forced to try and survive on unemployment benefits. The new face of poverty is the person who has worked at their place of employment for 15 and 20 years and now has no job to return to and is forced to apply for public assistance. The new face of poverty is the senior or veteran who is facing foreclosure because they can no longer stretch their pension to pay their mortgages and pay for their medications. The new face of poverty looks just like you and me.
The office that I manage, opened 410 cases this year and the Yonkers office has opened over 1400 cases. The Southeast office has done these types of numbers with 2 staff attorneys and one paralegal and no receptionist because she was laid off during the last budget cuts. We have managed to do more with less, however it is now a time when “doing more” is too much to handle. The current budget cuts being proposed would total eliminate our eviction prevention attorney staff. This means that there would be no attorneys available to represent clients and prevent evictions and foreclosures. This means that more people will become residents of our County shelters and more people will be unable to feed their families. The effect of these cuts would be catastrophic as there is no other agency that does the legal work that we do. We are it…….. the last line of defense for the neediest of us.
So, I implore you that when you sit down to review and discuss this budget and you review the statistical data which shows the cost effectiveness of Legal Services, and how much money we save this County, I also ask you to remember that this statistical data represents real people, and real families, who without our services would perish.
I thank you for your time and attention.
