Equal justice is at the center of it all.
ABOUT MFY
MissionMFY’s mission is to ensure that no poor New Yorker is denied equal access to justice because he or she cannot afford representation.
Philosophy & Practice
MFY was founded on the principle of equal access to justice through community-based legal representation of poor New Yorkers. Working in concert with neighborhood social service providers and community advocates, we reach out to those most in need to help resolve the problems faced by large numbers of low-income New Yorkers: housing, jobs, health care, entitlements, and family violence. We provide advice and representation to over 10,000 New Yorkers each year and initiate affirmative litigation that impacts many thousands of people.
To extend our reach even further, we provide community-based legal education to social service providers, workers’ centers, and community advocates while creating a wide array of volunteer opportunities for private attorneys and law students to furnish pro bono assistance on individual and class action cases.
History
MFY Legal Services, Inc. became an independent, not-for-profit law firm in 1968, having started out in 1963 as the legal arm of Mobilization for Youth, an anti-poverty organization created a year earlier to prevent juvenile delinquency. Working out of storefront and mobile offices, MFY quickly became the prototype nationally for the urban neighborhood poverty law office.
The idea of neighborhood-based legal services for the poor became a fixture of the legal landscape in 1974 with the creation of the federally-funded Legal Services Corporation. By our 25th anniversary in 1988, MFY was recognized as a national leader in poverty law, having served tens of thousands of low-income New Yorkers and won numerous test cases.
To continue to expand its level of service in the face of federal funding cutbacks in the 1980s, MFY consolidated its neighborhood offices in lower Manhattan while maintaining its com-mitment to community-based services by conducting legal clinics at neighborhood centers. MFY stayed true to its mission after new regulations barred federally-funded agencies from initiating class action litigation on behalf of poor people by withdrawing from the Legal Services Corporation system. Today, long after Mobilization for Youth ceased operating, MFY Legal Services continues to meet the needs of low income New Yorkers while taking a leading role in initiating impact litigation that helps thousands of people.
Read about MFY's pioneering first Director, Edward Sparer, and the vision that led to the development of the legal services social justice movement throughout the nation.