DOWNTOWN — As the city’s public defender landscape heads toward a potential crisis, the city this week announced plans to create a new office to connect New Yorkers with free legal services.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of the Mayor’s Office to Facilitate Pro Bono Legal Assistance on Tuesday, a new mayoral office intended as a repository of legal resources that New Yorkers can access to find legal representation and services.
The office itself will not be giving legal representation to New Yorkers, but will instead serve as an information hub that connects clients with pro bono services in the public and private sectors. The mayor said the office is intended to streamline the process of finding affordable representation, and will send clients to law school clinics, not-for-profit legal services organizations and other government-sponsored programs…