Hospital-based Initiative

       In this project, lawyers work with doctors and social workers at hospitals as part of a team to improve health outcomes for poor children through the provision of pro bono legal services.  For example, a child under medical treatment for asthma, whose asthma may be triggered by conditions in the family's apartment, will have a lawyer available to secure improvements by the landlord.

       VOLS recruits both hospitals and law firms for the project and provides ongoing project coordination. The project operates at seven hospitals. The project sites and matched law firms are:

• Bellevue Hospital Center (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison)
• The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (Cravath, Swaine & Moore)
• Harlem Hospital Center (Dewey & LeBoeuf)
• Metropolitan Hospital Center (Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler)
• Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital New York-Presbyterian (Cravath)
• New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill-Cornell Campus (White & Case); and
• New York University Medical Center (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman)

       In 2007, 86 families, with 131 children, were served by the VOLS Hospital Project.  125 volunteer lawyers and 25 legal assistants from the participating law firms served poor families in the project.

       At participating hospitals, VOLS staff and volunteer lawyers introduce the Children's Project to the medical staff at Grand Rounds and to social workers at other meetings, and organize legal information sessions at the hospitals on topics such as landlord/tenant issues and immigration.  The goal of these sessions is to assist hospital staff in identifying cases for referral to lawyers and strengthening the advocacy skills of the medical and social work teams.

Here are two examples of cases undertaken by volunteer lawyers:

• A mother has two sons who are asthmatic, one of whom has even more serious medical problems that drain both her time and money, making it difficult for her to hold-down a job.  Her son's medical problems interfere with her ability to save sufficient money for the rent.  This led to her landlord bringing successive nonpayment proceedings against her, plus an administrative proceeding to terminate her tenancy.  Volunteer lawyers successfully represented the mother in all of these matters.  Critical to the success of this effort has been the mother's incredibly hard work in juggling the demands of her job and sons' medical needs.


• A young child underwent two heart transplants.  The legal issue arose from the denial of coverage by Medicaid for a Rifton chair.  This special chair is necessary for the child's medical condition.  The pro bono lawyer represented the family at a fair hearing.  The judge directed the Department of Health to immediately grant the request.  The chair has been delivered to the family and is making a huge difference in the life of this child.

Other successful outcomes:

       Obtained visa extension for grandmother to enable her to remain in the United States to care for her sick grandchild; secured appropriate special education placement for child with a brain tumor; representation at a fair hearing resulting in continuation of public assistance and food stamp benefits for a Vietnamese-speaking mother; prevented numerous evictions; secured numerous housing repairs; obtained family transfer to larger apartment in Housing Authority project, thereby resolving a severe overcrowding problem.

School-based Initiative

       In this new project, VOLS matches law firms with schools to address civil legal problems facing families that threaten to disrupt the education of their children.  As examples of such legal problems, an eviction can lead to a child having to withdraw from school.  This can be a calamity for the child and family.  Or an interruption in public benefits — cash or medical benefits or food stamps — can cause deep distress in the life of a family which will adversely impact on the education of their children.

       The VOLS School Project started taking cases at these three schools in the fall of 2007:

• Public School 146, an elementary school in East Harlem, matched by VOLS with the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.


• KIPP Academy, a middle school in the Mott Haven/Morrisana section of the Bronx, matched by VOLS with Debevoise & Plimpton.


• The Bushwick Campus, four high schools in Brooklyn on a single campus, matched by VOLS with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
  
• Bronx Lab School, a high school in the Gun Hill Section of the Bronx, matched by VOLS with WilmerHale.
  
• Public School 11, an elementary school in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, matched by VOLS with Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.

       Legal issues being dealt with by lawyers in the VOLS School Project include housing, government benefits, immigration and family law.  Forty-four lawyers participated in the project in 2007.   At each of the school sites, volunteer lawyers conduct sessions with parents, teachers and school administers to explain the project and discuss legal issues.  At the Bushwick Campus, high school students also participate in these sessions.

       In selecting sites, VOLS was on the lookout for schools where there would be a strong commitment to the project, and a welcome extended to the lawyers to integrate the project into the fabric of the school,  so that the lawyers become a part of the team working to improve the chances for success for the children attending the school.