Press

For all press inquiries, please contact Anthony Johnson.

Press Releases
CBJC in the News

City Bar Justice Center Appoints Amelia Toledo as Next Director of the Shelter Advocacy Project

September 30, 2025

The City Bar Justice Center, a pro bono legal services affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, is pleased to introduce Amelia Toledo as the next director of the Shelter Advocacy Project. Toledo succeeds Jennifer Quijano, who departed the Justice Center earlier this year.

City Bar Fund Appoints New Officers and Members for 2025-26

June 20, 2025

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc. (“City Bar Fund”), the charitable affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, is pleased to announce its directors and officers for 2025-26.

Renewed New York Bar Foundation Funding Extends City Bar Justice Center’s Intergenerational Asset Preservation Initiative

April 16, 2025

The City Bar Justice Center, a pro bono legal services affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, received renewed funding from the New York Bar Foundation. The grant supports the Justice Center’s Intergenerational Asset Preservation Initiative, a collaboration between the organization’s Homeowner Stability Project (HSP) and Planning and Estates Law Project (PELP).

City Bar Justice Center’s Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project for the Eastern District of New York Celebrates a Decade of Service

March 31, 2025

The City Bar Justice Center, a pro bono legal services affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, is celebrating a decade of service for its Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY).

Stabilized IOLA Fund Increases Grant to the City Bar Justice Center

February 6, 2025

The City Bar Justice Center, a pro bono civil legal aid affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, is excited to announce that the New York State Interest on Lawyers Account Fund (IOLA) has increased its support to our organization as part of a historic, five-year grant plan intended to boost support for those in greatest need of civil legal assistance across New York State. The Justice Center provides high-quality, free civil legal services benefiting over 25,000 New Yorkers in need each year throughout New York City, Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley, helping individuals and families vindicate rights and achieve social and economic stability.

City Bar Justice Center’s “Legal Clinic for the Homeless” Becomes the “Shelter Advocacy Project” to Address Unmet Legal Needs

January 30, 2025

The City Bar Justice Center, a pro bono legal services affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, is excited to announce the reimagining of its Legal Clinic for the Homeless program as the Shelter Advocacy Project. Beyond rebranding, the name change accompanies a shift in program priorities to address current unmet legal needs for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.

City Bar Justice Center Announces Honorees of its 2024 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Awards

October 15, 2024

The City Bar Justice Center, a pro bono legal services affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, is pleased to announce the winners of its 2024 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Awards. Honoring volunteer volunteers who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to justice, the honorees will be awarded at an in-person celebration on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.

City Bar Justice Center Honored with 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Award by the American College of Bankruptcy

September 27, 2024

The American College of Bankruptcy has selected the City Bar Justice Center (the Justice Center) for its prestigious 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Award. The College’s Board of Directors, following a unanimous recommendation by its Standing Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, recognized the Justice Center for leading by example and inspiring other bar associations nationwide to adopt and implement robust DEI programs within the bankruptcy field.

City Bar Justice Center Appoints Jaclyn Kramer as Inaugural Director of Advancement

August 7, 2024

The City Bar Justice Center is pleased to welcome Jaclyn Kramer as the Justice Center’s inaugural Director of Advancement effective September 4, 2024. In her new role at the Justice Center, Jaclyn will lead an expanded and reformatted communications and development function in line with the Justice Center’s strategic plan launched in October 2023 – Honoring Our Roots, Revisioning Our Commitments – and two of that strategic plan’s four goals: growing visibility and resources to widen our organization’s reach and deepen its impact, and strengthening organizational capacity to more effectively and efficiently serve Justice Center clients and engage with volunteers and other core stakeholders.

City Bar Fund Board Welcomes New Officers and Members

July 3, 2024

New York, July 3, 2024 – The Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc. (“City Bar Fund”), the 501(c)(3) charitable affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, has welcomed new officers and members to its Board of Directors. The City Bar Fund engages New York City lawyers across four programs – the City Bar Justice Center, the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, the Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, and the Lawyer Assistance Program – to advance social justice and well-being for the public and within the legal profession.

Winston and Optimum Team Up to Give Fellow New Yorkers a Financial Fresh Start in 2025

January 17, 2025

Attorneys from Winston and commercial client Optimum collaborated with the City Bar Justice Center to advise six New York City residents on how to prepare and file pro se bankruptcy paperwork to regain financial stability.

Court Restores Property To Elderly Victims Of Deed Theft Scheme

January 14, 2025

Partner Andrew Lichtman and Associate Florian Fuhrimann, in partnership with the City Bar Justice Center’s Homeowner Stability Project (HSP), secured the return of property to elderly clients with disabilities in a deed theft case in Queens, New York.

Annual Law Secretaries’ dinner celebrates distinguished legal service

June 17, 2024

Hon. Yael Wilkofsky is a judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York, currently sitting in New York County Family Court. She has a distinguished career in public service, including roles at the Innocence Project, the City Bar Justice Center and the Legal Clinic for the Homeless. Wilkofsky served as the principal law clerk to Hon. Cynthia S. Kern for more than 12 years before before being elected to the Civil Court in Novemeber 2023. She now presides over child abuse and neglect proceedings.

SDNY Taps Nonprofit To Run Clinic For Pro Se Litigants

June 4, 2024

The City Bar Justice Center announced Tuesday that it has been enlisted to take over the Southern District of New York’s 8-year-old legal assistance clinic’s services for self-represented litigants, as many low-income Americans face the civil legal system alone.

Amini LLC Promotes Jeffrey Chubak to Member

May 16, 2024

Jeffrey has presented to the City Bar Justice Center on the issue of student loan dischargeability and has been honored by the NYC Bankruptcy Assistance Project for pro bono assistance provided individual debtors. Chubak joined Amini LLC in 2019 and has consistently achieved strong results in commercial litigation for clients, handling a broad spectrum of bankruptcy matters and enforcement work. His involvement in cryptocurrency cases, which includes representing blockchain technology companies in bankruptcy cases and major creditors in crypto exchange bankruptcies, has established his reputation as an eminent attorney in the field

Residents of New York’s shelters need internet access to use critical services

April 11, 2024

Let’s face it, in order for people to access services that would get them out of shelters and into stable, permanent housing, they must be able to get online. In New York City, where we have more shelters than any other part of the state, the City Bar Justice Center found that 75% of people surveyed in shelters said that more regular access to the internet would improve their ability to find jobs, housing and other benefits. Online access to these resources has increased dramatically since the pandemic, but the connectivity of shelters has not kept up at all. If we want to fully address New York’s homelessness crisis, we can’t ignore the role of high-speed internet.

How organizations are meeting the needs of homeless New Yorkers and migrants

March 27, 2024

To ensure the streamlining and effective delivery of services, shelter programs are carefully designed to provide critical support for different populations with social services staff working closely with each household to help them stabilize their lives. At sanctuary sites, in addition to wraparound supports, DHS and not-for-profit staff are trained to address the unique needs of asylum seekers, which includes making vital connections to immigration, healthcare, education supports, and other city resources as part of a strongly coordinated interagency response to the humanitarian crisis.

City Bar challenges proposed $100 million IOLA Fund Diversion

February 14, 2024

Kurt Denk, executive director of the City Bar Justice Center, pointed out the human impact of the proposed IOLA sweep, which threatens to dismantle established services essential to New Yorkers lacking legal representation. “The risk of the governor’s proposed ‘IOLA Sweep’ for IOLA-funded organizations like the City Bar Justice Center and 80 other IOLA grantees across New York State is a deeply human one because it risks unsettling longstanding services that provide those essentials of life to our neighbors who cannot afford legal help,” said Denk.

BigLaw Slams Hochul Plan To Divert Client Trust Interest Cash

February 12, 2024

A long list of BigLaw attorneys, firm leaders and legal groups have urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to reconsider her plan to divert $100 million in interest earned on lawyer trust accounts that typically goes toward legal aid for low-income New Yorkers, calling the move “misguided” and cautioning that it could create “an existential threat” to civil legal services. A slew of social service agencies, veterans groups, healthcare providers, concerned citizens and legal organizations — including Access to Justice Brooklyn, Community Service Society of New York and the City Bar Justice Center — also signed onto a separate letter criticizing the plan.

Little Oversight, Deals Signed in the Dark: How Speculators Cash In When NYC Homeowners Die Without Wills

July 26, 2023

Lawmakers, court authorities and city agencies have failed to safeguard the estates of homeowners who die without wills, threatening the transfer of Black and Latino generational wealth. K. Scott Kohanowski, director of the Homeowner Stability Initiative at the City Bar Justice Center, says the predation of homes without wills is “the biggest problem that nobody has heard of.” “It’s something that flies under the radar. It definitely results in a loss of homeownership, especially within communities of color,” he said. “That’s been a huge issue in New York City because there’s been a large flight of Black residents… just because housing is expensive and it’s so difficult to find.”