Bronx Defenders

The Bronx Defender Services provides innovative, holistic, and client-centered criminal defense, family defense, civil legal services, social work support and advocacy to indigent people of the Bronx. Working collaboratively with our clients, we seek to end cycles of poverty, addiction, violence, and court involvement. Our Civil Action Practice provides comprehensive legal services to our clients and their families in order to minimize the severe and often unforeseen fallout from arrest or court involvement and to facilitate the successful reentry of our clients into the community. Our civil attorneys and advocates provide advocacy and representation in virtually every venue in New York City where no right to counsel exists to address and preserve clients’ hard-earned jobs, maintain stable housing and public benefits, defend against the forfeiture of property, correct criminal record errors, preserve rights challenging police misconduct, and educate Judges and prosecutors about the debilitating consequences of an arrest so that they can make informed and just decisions. We also look beyond individual cases to challenge entrenched problems that drive individuals into the justice system through community education, leadership development, impact litigation, and legislative reform.