Mayor forms new office for free legal services

By Noah Powelson

As the city’s public defender landscape heads toward a potential crisis, the city this week announced plans to create a new office to connect New Yorkers with free legal services.

Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of the Mayor’s Office to Facilitate Pro Bono Legal Assistance on Tuesday, a new mayoral office intended as a repository of legal resources that New Yorkers can access to find legal representation and services.

The office itself will not be giving legal representation to New Yorkers, but will instead serve as an information hub that connects clients with pro bono services in the public and private sectors. The mayor said the office is intended to streamline the process of finding affordable representation, and will send clients to law school clinics, not-for-profit legal services organizations and other government-sponsored programs.

The office was created after the passage of the city’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which included an additional $76 million for free legal assistance to immigrants, bringing the total budget for immigrant legal services to over $120 million. Funding for the new pro bono office will be separate from the $76 million, but their funds will be administered by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

The mayor said the office was created, in part, as a response to the increase in arrests being made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City – Adams has been criticised for his efforts to allow ICE to conduct investigations out of a Rikers Island office that has thus far been held up in the courts.

“In the United States, everyone is entitled to legal representation, but too often, the cost of legal fees places effective counsel out of reach for too many,” Adams said in a statement. “At a time when many immigrants in our city live in fear of being detained or deported, the new budget includes $121 million in related legal services for New Yorkers, more than any other major city in America, and the most in the city’s history.”

Legal aid services are a lifeline for low-income New Yorkers who lack the means to afford their own representation, and are doubly vital for immigrants.

At a demonstration outside City Hall last week, before the city passed a budget that expanded funding for immigration legal services, elected officials and legal advocates demanded more be done to protect immigrants from ICE raids.

“When you go to immigration court on any given day, you will speak with dozens if not hundreds of people who are terrified, without legal representation, waiting to see if they are next to be detained by ICE agents,” Brooklyn City Councilmember Alexa Avilés said at the City Hall rally on June 26. “If you sit in on hearings, you will hear people say that they were unable to find legal representation because of lack of services, [there is] an incredibly long wait list at pro bono organizations.”

What’s more, the city is currently at risk of the largest public defender strike in 30 years as a dozen legal services providers represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys union are demanding higher pay and benefits from their respective employers.

As of reporting, legal aid services represented by ALAA have let their contracts with their organizations expire on June 30, and no information on a new deals to avoid a mass strike has been made. Currently eight legal aid organizations, including the Legal Aid Society, have passed strike authorizations votes.

If a mass strike does happen, courthouses across the city could face massive disruptions that will grind many courts to a halt as thousands of public defenders stop working.

The new Mayor’s Office to Facilitate Pro Bono Legal Assistance may be one such tool the city can use to find those attorneys willing to work.

A City Hall spokesperson told the Eagle that the mayor’s office has to determine the potential impact of the new pro bono office. The spokesperson said it will take some time as they establish themselves and spread the word about their services, but the office has the potential to help thousands of New Yorkers.

The office plans to act as a networking resource for attorneys as well, connecting them with pro bono services and organizations in need of skilled or specialized attorneys. Additionally, the pro bono office will offer clients guidance on other financial, housing, and social services they may be eligible for.

“Through the Mayor’s Office to Facilitate Pro Bono Legal Assistance, we will help New Yorkers access a directory of existing, free legal services and reduce barriers so that they can bring legal actions, defend themselves, and protect their civil liberties,” Adams said.

The new pro bono office will work with groups like the New York City Bar Association, legal aid groups and law school clinics to spread awareness of legal aid resources available to city residents. NYCBA said they were looking forward to seeing the office’s work, but did not provide information about what involvement they will have.

“We welcome any effort to improve access to justice for New Yorkers and look forward to learning more about how the City Bar can support this work,” a city bar spokesperson told the Eagle in a statement.

The City Hall spokesperson said they couldn’t announce which organizations will be partnering with the pro bono office yet, but the deputy mayor and the office’s incoming director are working on connecting with a variety of organizations as they get set up and running.

Running the new office is Makousse Ilboudo, who previously served as a court attorney for the Mayor’s Office of Asylum Seeker Operations. Originally from the Ivory Coast, Ilboudo immigrated to the city at a young age and has worked with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the New York City Department of Social Services and the New York City Law Department on asylum and right-to-shelter cases.

“Access to legal counsel should not be reserved for only those who can afford it,” Ilboudo said in a statement. “As someone who has dedicated my career to public service, I am grateful to Mayor Adams and First Deputy Mayor Mastro for selecting me to lead this exciting new office, which I know will serve all New Yorkers, especially our most vulnerable, and I am looking forward to continuing the work I started to protect asylum seekers and immigrants in-need of legal services.”

Ilboudo will report directly to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, according to the Mayor’s office. Mastro was the alleged architect behind the city’s efforts to bring ICE back to Rikers Island.

“This is the logical extension of this administration’s successful efforts to match asylum seekers with pro bono counsel,” Mastro said in a statement. “With the latest budget allocation of more than $120 million for legal services, we are helping immigrants defend their legal right to stay in this country and keep their families together.

“Because of these investments, we are able to continue delivering the kinds of legal services this administration has skillfully spearheaded for this community over the past three years as we have managed the asylum seeker crisis,” Mastro added.