The city’s public defenders are struggling.
Eugene Toussaint, an attorney at Legal Aid Society, delivers groceries for UberEats after a long day’s work as a public defender.Eugene Toussaint, an attorney at Legal Aid Society, delivers groceries for UberEats after a long day’s work as a public defender.Eugene Toussaint, an attorney at Legal Aid Society, delivers groceries for UberEats after a long day’s work as a public defender.On a brisk Tuesday morning while most are still asleep, Eugene Toussaint is in the gym by 6 a.m.
From that moment on, the day is a blur of staircases and elevator rides, hustling from one freezing courtroom to the next. Clients wait for their lawyers in the courtrooms, sitting on old wooden benches marred by scratched out messages and the occasional piece of gum. When Toussaint calls their name, they go out to meet in the hallway to discuss their cases.
The nonprofit, which provides its services for free to low-income New Yorkers who qualify, receives the majority of its funding from both the city and the state. That funding has not kept up with skyrocketing costs for rent, utilities, health insurance and their labor contracts which increase three percent every year. “We are in a fiscal crisis and it’s unsustainable,” said Twyla Carter, the organization’s chief executive officer.
“We’re often the adversary to a government player, right?” said Dawne Mitchell, the chief attorney of Legal Aid’s juvenile rights practice. “And so our government players, they have lower caseload standards and higher pay. We have higher caseload standards and lower pay. It makes no sense,” she said. “It sort of creates this inequitable system or continuation of an inequitable system. And the folks who are harmed by that are our clients as well.
Toussaint predicts a larger crisis on the horizon for the Legal Aid Society. As employees of a nonprofit, attorneys are eligible to have their loans forgiven by the federal government due to their work in a public service role, and he believes many of his colleagues will consider leaving once the burden of massive loan debt is off their shoulders — even if they’re passionate about the work. “It’s a cost-reward thing, right? So, even if you’re really good at it, it’s a job that burns you out.
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