Brooklyn Defenders

Brooklyn Defenders is proud to be introducing the members of our recently formed Associate Board. The Associate Board is a group of leaders and talented professionals, who dedicate their own time, talents, and networks to raise awareness and resources to support the work and overall programmatic mission of Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS). The Associate Board is a diverse representation of the broader community, representing a variety of organizations, professional roles, and life experiences with a shared purpose to support BDS. We're introducing each member of the Board this week. Today please join us in welcoming Dan Liberman. Dan is an Associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Dan counsels clients in a range of litigation matters including securities and shareholder litigation, white collar matters, regulatory investigations, and commercial disputes. Prior to joining Fried Frank, Dan worked in social services, including overseeing and coordinating landlord outreach efforts for the Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program, with the goal of increasing access to private market owned rental property for veterans moving from homelessness to permanent housing throughout Travis County, Texas.

Brooklyn Defender Services is a public defense office that provides outstanding representation and advocacy to people facing loss of freedom, family separation and other serious legal harms. New York City students go back to school on September 5th, and we’ve organized a drive to help prepare students for the new school year. Every student deserves to have the supplies they need to learn when they step into their classroom. Help us reach our goal of raising $7,500 to provide 500 students with backpacks filled with school supplies. By donating, you ensure that students in Brooklyn have the tools needed to succeed during this upcoming school year. Backpacks and supplies will be distributed at our Back-to-School Resource Fair in East New York, Brooklyn on August 21st. Your donation of $10 covers the cost of a brand-new backpack. Your donation of $15 covers the cost of a backpack filled with supplies (including notebooks, pens, folders etc.) for one student. Your donation of $150 provides 10 students with their own backpack filled with supplies. You can help Brooklyn students get back-to-school by donating here. https://lnkd.in/eFGKCpk8

Brooklyn Defenders is proud to introduce the members of our new  Associate Board. The Associate Board is a group of leaders and talented professionals, who dedicate their own time, talents, and networks to raise awareness and resources to support the work and overall programmatic mission of Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS). The Associate Board is a diverse representation of the broader community, representing a variety of organizations, professional roles, and life experiences with a shared purpose to support our mission. We'll be introducing each member of the Board this week, beginning with Lexi Allen. Please join us in welcoming each member of this accomplished group over this week. Lexi Allen is a Senior Product Manager at SparkPlug, a tech startup. She studied at Harvard University and has a passion for travel and photography. Lexi resides in Brooklyn and is excited to be a part of the BDS associate board as a way to invest in the community. She is eagerly looking forward to fundraising.

Brooklyn Defenders’ Pro Bono unit continues to make significant strides into Summer 2024. This past week, BDS teamed up with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP once more to offer vital SCR support to Family Defense clients impacted by the family regulation system. Simpson Thacher volunteers were briefed on the detrimental effects of system involvement on parents, children, and caregivers, and subsequently trained to provide optimal assistance to our clients in navigating their SCR cases. Thanks to their dedication, seven Family Defense clients were able to move forward in removing their names from the State Central Registrar. We are deeply appreciative of their commitment and hard work. Beyond their contributions to our Family Defense practice, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP remains a strong ally to our New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (“NYIFUP”) and our Immigrant Community Action Project (“ICAP”) Immigration teams. Individuals seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) protection must demonstrate a credible fear of future persecution if returned to their home country, primarily through “country conditions reports.” These reports are crucial for securing the safety of our immigration clients in the United States. Since the beginning of 2024, volunteers from Simpson Thacher have completed ten country conditions reports, greatly aiding our efforts.

Thank you for celebrating with us at our 2024 Family Defense Benefit! The evening was truly inspiring. Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate 17 years of keeping families together. We were thrilled to present Joyce McMillan, Executive Director of JMACforFamilies, with the Trailblazer Award for leading a community of impacted parents and other advocates to challenge and transform the family policing system. We recognized our dedicated pro bono partners Crowell & Moring, Fried Frank, and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, who have continued to demonstrate their unwavering commitment to our work and the families we serve. It was also our pleasure to honor our community partner, exalt, for their exceptional work on behalf of New York City’s youth involved in the criminal legal system. Angelica Charles received the Family Champion Award and courageously shared her experience advocating for herself and her family until they were reunited. Our deepest gratitude to all of our sponsors for their continued show of support and to our entire Brooklyn Defenders team who advocate and fight on behalf of the people we serve each day. And a special thank you to our gracious host, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, for their partnership and for making the evening such a great success.

We are thrilled to welcome our new Senior Director of Interdisciplinary Practice, Jenny Kronenfeld. Jenny will manage our social work teams across all practices and will also manage our Client Services Team. Additionally, she will oversee the reopening of our Community Office in East New York, which will enhance our ability to defend and advocate in the communities we serve. Jenny joins Brooklyn Defenders after almost 22 years as the executive director of Esperanza, an alternative to incarceration program for young people with cases in NYC Criminal, Supreme and Family Court. Prior to Esperanza, she was the Deputy Director and one of the founding supervisors at the Bronx Defenders. She got her start as a defense attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem where she worked for five years. Before entering law school Jenny worked in a variety of roles, including doing intake work at a residential drug treatment center and secretarial work at Prisoners' Legal Services where she made the decision to become a lawyer. She is a graduate of Hunter College and CUNY Law School.

Brooklyn Defenders’ Pro Bono unit has had a successful start to Spring 2024. In March 2024, BDS partnered with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to provide imperative SCR support to Family Defense clients impacted by the family regulation system. Volunteers from Simpson Thacher were educated on the harmful implications of system involvement for parents, children, and caregivers, and were then trained to best support our clients in navigating their SCR cases. Simpson’s incredible volunteers successfully assisted six Family Defense clients in their effort to remove their names from the State Central Registrar. We could not be more grateful for their dedication and support. In addition to their work with our Family Defense practice, Simpson Thacher & Barlett LLP continues to be a valuable partner to our New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (“NYIFUP”) and our Immigrant Community Action Project (“ICAP”) Immigration teams. People seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) protection are responsible for demonstrating that they have an objectively reasonable fear of future persecution if returned to their country of origin through a document known as a “country conditions report.” These reports are essential to securing our immigration client’s security in the United States. Volunteers from Simpson Thacher have completed over eight country conditions reports since the start of 2024.

On Thursday May 23rd from 4:00 - 6pm we're hosting the second session of our virtual Small Business Academy with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP & Start Small Think Big. The Zoom event is open to anyone who is interested in opening a small business or for existing small business owners who are seeking helpful information. In this session we'll have an overview of commercial real estate & leasing in NY, followed by a Q&A and individual consultations. All are welcome! You may register for the event here: https://lnkd.in/ehwH_RTf

Proud to be a member of Brooklyn Defenders Leadership Team.

Brooklyn Defenders is pleased to share our 2023 Annual Report which highlights our most recent outcomes and celebrates the people and organizations who continue to support and contribute to our work. We are proud to have represented and provided zealous advocacy to over 23,000 individuals and their families across Brooklyn and New York State last year. Our approach—to defend, advocate, and change—is made possible by our interdisciplinary team of over 500 highly skilled and experienced attorneys, social workers, investigators, paralegals, and administrative staff who work together to ensure the best possible outcomes for the people we serve. You are also a crucial part of the Brooklyn Defenders team. Your support throughout 2023 furthered our work to uphold the rights, freedom, and dignity of people threatened by unjust legal systems. We are grateful for your incredible partnership. As we progress into 2024, we hope to deepen our impact with you in our corner. Take a moment to read about our impact in 2023 here: https://lnkd.in/eRR6vbmQ