Roger Juan Maldonado. Photo Credit: David Handschuh/NYLJ.

New York state has committed an unprecedented amount of funding to provide legal representation for low-income individuals in civil matters in recent years, but leaders from organizations that provide those services testified at a hearing Monday in Albany that the demand for that help has continued to grow.

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore presided over the hearing, which is held annually to hear testimony on the condition of civil legal services in New York and how the state can bolster representation.

DiFiore was joined on the panel by Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks, and the presiding justices of the Appellate Division. Those include Justice Rolando Acosta of the First Department, Alan Scheinkman of the Second Department, Elizabeth Garry of the Third Department, and Gerald Whalen of the Fourth Department.

Hank Greenberg, the current president of the New York State Bar Association and a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, was also on the panel.

While the state only began to commit $100 million for civil legal services a few years ago, individuals who testified at the hearing Monday said more funding would help fill the gap that still exists between litigants who have a lawyer and those who go unrepresented.

New York City Bar Association President Roger Juan Maldonado, a partner at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, testified that the judiciary should consider pushing for an increase.

"We ask the judiciary to evaluate the success of this programming and to consider increasing the allocation in the next budget year," Maldonado said.

The funding was set at $100 million statewide based on a recommendation from the Permanent Commission on Access to Justice, an entity created in the last decade to examine how the state can provide legal counsel to more litigants in New York.

That panel is set to issue its annual report in the coming weeks, which will be considered by the judiciary while crafting its budget request for the coming year. That's usually approved by the Legislature without any major problems.

Maldonado wasn't alone in his suggestion for more funding. C. Kenneth Perri, executive director of Legal Assistance of Western New York, which serves much of that region outside the Buffalo area, said the state's new rent laws will increase the demand for civil legal representation in matters related to housing.

That law, approved by the Legislature in June, enshrined stronger tenant protections to residents living outside New York City, as well as within the five boroughs. Outside the city, for example, new criminal penalties were created for landlords who unlawfully evict their tenants.

"With the recent enactment of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which provides renters in New York State with enhanced procedural and substantive rights, the need for more attorneys to provide legal services to low-income New York tenants has grown more pronounced," Perri said.

On the topic of housing, the panel got an update on the status of New York City's new law that's set to guarantee legal representation for all low-income tenants in housing cases by 2022. The program is currently being phased in, with 20 ZIP codes eligible as of this year.

Jordan Dressler, who leads New York City's Office of Civil Justice, testified that the percentage of tenants represented in housing court has risen dramatically in recent years. In the last fiscal year, 30% of tenants appearing for eviction cases had a lawyer in court. That's compared with 1% in 2013, according to the state Office of Court Administration.

"In New York City, we have made substantial progress in bridging the 'justice gap' for tenants facing potential eviction in court and displacement from their homes and neighborhoods," Dressler said.

The Legal Aid Society, the city's largest civil legal services organization, highlighted its work with immigrant clients, the number of which they said has grown exponentially over the past decade. Their work with that community was made possible, they said, because of public funding for civil legal services groups.

A client of the Legal Aid Society, who went by a pseudonym, testified at the hearing about her experience leading a class of young immigrants in a lawsuit against the federal government. The suit challenged a decision by the government to eliminate a pathway to legal status in the country for several young immigrants.

Adriene Holder, attorney-in-charge of the civil practice of the Legal Aid Society, said funding from the state has helped it bring major cases such as that one.

"This class action was the first of its kind, and first litigated to completion," Holder said.

Last year's report from the Permanent Commission on Access to Justice showed that the state's increased investment in civil legal services for low-income individuals over the past decade appeared to be working.

Data from the Office of Court Administration showed that the number of individuals who received direct legal assistance as a result of grants offered to organizations by the state increased from 384,974 in fiscal year 2014 to 483,604 in the last fiscal year. That's an increase of 26% during that time.

The data available at the time showed a decline in the number of unrepresented litigants in cases involving essentials-of-life matters, which include housing, family matters, access to health care and education, and subsistence income.

That's reflected, partly, in more individuals represented in housing matters, the report said. More individuals had a lawyer in foreclosure settlement conferences. The same was true for litigants facing eviction in New York City, according to the commission.

Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Edwina Mendelson, who leads the Office for Justice Initiatives, stressed in her testimony that the state's judiciary should continue its efforts toward providing civil legal services to low-income New Yorkers until access is universal statewide.

"We cannot rest, and should not rest here. The truth is we are nowhere near our lofty, yet increasingly critical goal: to close the justice gap by providing effective and efficient legal assistance to 100% of those in need," she said. "That is our goal. That is our mandate."

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