Bronx Defenders Join Growing Legal Services Worker Strike

Unionized public defenders with NYLAG and the Urban Justice Center hold a strike rally in Foley Square, July 15, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

Attorneys and legal staff at three groups walked out of negotiations on Thursday, marking the first time since 1994 that criminal defense lawyers for the poor have halted work.

by Claudia Irizarry Aponte July 18, 2025, 9:39 a.m.

Attorneys with three publicly funded legal services providers for low-income New Yorkers went on strike Friday morning after failing to reach an agreement with management on raises.

Staff at the Bronx Defenders, the Center for Appellate Litigation and the Office of the Appellate Defender join the roughly 400 attorneys and legal staff across four other nonprofit organizations already on the picket line seeking better pay and working conditions, bringing the total number of strikers to more than 700.

They are represented by the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys – UAW Local 2325, which along with its parent union, the United Auto Workers, represents a majority of legal services workers in New York City representing defendants in immigration, criminal, housing and family courts.

The work stoppage at Bronx Defenders has the potential to “shut down” arraignments and intake in Bronx criminal, housing and family courts, said Sophia Gurulé, an ALAA Local 2325 trustee who formerly worked at the organization.

FULL story: https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/18/bronx-defenders-legal-services-strike/