Capital One Lawyers Create Team to Help Homeless Families

Last week attorneys from Capital One and attorneys from some of the law firms with which it works received training from the City Bar Justice Center’s Legal Clinic for the Homeless (LCH). The lawyers seek to help homeless families navigate the government bureaucracies that provide for their basic needs, including food, clothing, health care and shelter.

The Capital One/LCH partnership began last June, and Capital One team attorneys have already secured thousands of dollars in public benefits and charitable funds for their homeless clients who struggle to make ends meet. Aaron Kleinmann, a Bank Litigation and Special Assets lawyer at Capital One, spearheaded this group of attorneys, rounding up volunteers from some of Capital One’s law firms to join Capital One’s effort to help alleviate some of the suffering of New York City’s homeless families.

 

Attorneys from Capital One, Herrick Feinstein, Reed Smith, McCarter & English, Morgan Lewis, Troutman Sanders, and Murphy & McGonigle travel to the Bronx and Manhattan to staff legal clinics at homeless shelters and accept cases for representation. Recently, a student group from Columbia Law School joined the team.

“Capital One’s legal team and its outside attorneys are pleased to use their expertise to advocate for homeless clients and help them overcome the hardships they face, one case at a time,” said Aaron Kleinmann.

At one of the legal clinics, a homeless client explained through tears that she wanted nothing more than to be able to feed her daughter fresh vegetables. Although the client, a human trafficking victim, was not eligible for public benefits, her Capital One team attorney, Chris Lynch from Reed Smith, was able to secure funds from the New York Times Neediest Cases fund so the client could buy her daughter fresh vegetables, a warm blanket, and winter coat. We commend Capital One on bringing the pro bono spirit to homeless families during this harsh winter season and thank all of the cooperating law firms.