NYSBA in the News: Preparing To Return To Work, Unemployment Help For The Most Vulnerable & Law Day 2020

NYSBA in the News: Preparing To Return To Work, Unemployment Help For The Most Vulnerable & Law Day 2020

5.6.2020

By Brendan Kennedy

With plans for stay-at-home orders being relaxed in New York and unemployment claims continuing to increase due to the COVID-19 health crisis, the New York State Bar Association is continuing to advocate on behalf of its 70,000 members and provide assistance to the citizens of New York.

NYSBA President Hank Greenberg was quoted in a New York Law Journal story about Governor Cuomo’s 4-phase plan to reopen New York.

Hank Greenberg, president of the New York State Bar Association, described the announcement as welcome news for the legal profession

Greenberg said the full return of legal services would meet a demand built up for months during the pandemic.

As the state moves to reopen, we anticipate that many people will require the assistance of lawyers to address a multitude of legal needs, he said in a statement.

Those legal needs, he said, are anticipated to include aiding victims of domestic violence and assisting landlords and tenants with housing issues.

On Long Island, Newsday cited the advocacy work of NYSBA’s newly formed Restarting the Economy Work Group and the Long Island Business News quoted Greenberg in a story about it.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle also cited Greenberg’s comments about the importance of providing recommendations on how to bring lawyers back to their offices once stay-at-home orders are relaxed

This is an enormously important issue to lawyers around the state and the working group has pledged to move quickly to give law firms guidance, Greenberg said in a statement.

Clients come to us because they need someone to listen carefully to their concerns and many times the best way to do that is at the office, he added. Collaboration with the entire legal team is also easier and more effective when everyone is in the same place.

WRGZ-TV, Buffalo’s NBC affiliate, featured NYSBA President Greenberg in a story about members that helping New Yorkers for free if they were denied unemployment benefits.

Currents News, a non-profit TV station in New York City, interviewed NYSBA President Greenberg in a story about the pro bono legal assistance project the State Bar Association is spearheading to help New Yorkers that have had their unemployment insurance claims denied.

In the Hudson Valley, the Times-Herald Record quoted the Law Day speech given by Greenberg. The New York Law Journal also reported on the Law Day ceremony, which was done virtually for the first time in its 100 year history, as did the Legislative Gazette:

They also addressed voting difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Greenberg pointed out the logistical problems in in-person voting, including a potential shortage of poll workers and closings and restrictions of poll sites such as schools, churches and nursing homes.

“The greatest immediate threat to voting rights is not man-made,” Greenberg said. “Our voting laws and systems were not designed to conduct elections in the midst of a public health crisis. Voters should not have to choose between disease and democracy, risking their health and exercising a civic duty.”