New York Center for Law and Justice

The New York Center for Law and Justice is a legal services organization that provides direct representation to deaf New Yorkers who are indigent and of modest means. The law center fills a vacuum in the legal services field by focusing its practice on a particular cross section of the metropolitan population--deaf and hard of hearing New Yorkers-who are referred to the law center by social service agencies and through its general reputation in the community. We are the only public interest law firm focused primarily upon representing the deaf and hard of hearing community in New York City. As we engage in our work, we increasingly realize that there is a human and civil rights crisis of immense proportions occurring within New York. The indigent deaf community struggles to gain access to justice in matters that include application for public benefits, housing, domestic violence, false arrest, false imprisonment and political asylum, among other issues. In short, the challenges of the deaf community are not understood and communication barriers are extreme which create daily complications in the lives of our clients.