2024 NLADA Annual Conference

We will discuss how NYLAG’s LegalHealth medical-legal partnership (MLP) improves the legal and health outcomes for NYC’s immigrant communities, including many recent arrivals. As the nation’s largest and one of the longest-standing medical-legal partnerships, we have historically rallied around immigrants who are forced to deal with complex legal and health issues. Through our extensive partnerships with various public safety net hospitals, private hospitals and outpatient community clinics, we unite legal care and health care, so the patient relies on one interdisciplinary team to collectively address their legal and health needs. Through LegalHealth’s MLP model, our attorneys and paralegals provide culturally competent and trauma-informed wrap around legal services for patients across a wide range of civil legal issues.

Our panel will highlight our successful pro bono clinics we have built over the past year to enhance outcomes for immigrants with cancer. Specifically, 96 immigrants with cancer and their families have received comprehensive pro bono assistance to legally extend the period of their authorized stay of their tourist visas due to medical necessity and were able to retain control of their decision making, should their illness progress, by assisting in the completion of advance directives. The need is significant and by collaborating with the private bar we have served more immigrant clients and removed social and economic barriers that traditionally have made it challenging for immigrant patients to receive these essential services.

Finally, we will share qualitative data from recent years, client narratives and case examples to illustrate how our medical-legal partnership model has positively impacted the legal and health outcomes for immigrant patients. We hope LegalHealth’s models for a medical-legal partnership and pro-bono firm collaboration can inspire public health and legal programming for people in different states with similar needs, heighten interest in multidisciplinary information exchange between healthcare and legal systems, and renew commitment to health and racial justice and a healthier society for all.

Gun violence has plagued urban areas across the U.S. for generations, disproportionately affecting Black and Brown, low-income communities, the direct result of systemic racism leading to the complete disinvestment in those neighborhoods currently devastated by daily shootings. Recent investments in gun violence prevention and intervention by the Biden Administration have made new funding available for gun violence prevention and intervention. Presenters will discuss the most common civil legal needs of gun violence survivors (of non-fatal shootings and homicides), funding available to support those services, research that supports that such services can contribute to reducing gun violence, and critical partnerships to reach this very underserved and vulnerable population. Other topics include: this work as a critical component of criminal justice reform; partnering with indigent defense organizations; the potential for federal civil rights litigation/systemic advocacy; and federal regulatory changes re: victims' compensation.

Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and severity across the United States. In 2023 alone, NOAA recorded 28 separate billion-dollar disasters, and 2024 will almost certainly prove to be another record-breaking year. Legal services organizations play a crucial role in supporting communities during and after disasters. This session will focus on essential preparations legal aid programs need to have in place before disaster strikes, going beyond basic Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP).

The MIE Roundtable provides a forum for legal services executive directors and managers to share management concerns and receive peer support and assistance in an informal and confidential setting. This session allows participants to share their most difficult challenges and pressing decisions, and to benefit from the best thinking of their colleagues who share similar concerns and have experience and learning to share, moving the community as a whole forward toward better management and thus better services to clients.

This panel will make the case that prioritizing technology and data is an investment toward achieving your mission, an opportunity to leverage untapped talent within your organization, and a concrete step toward advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in our professional community.

The panel will feature an executive director, a former paralegal and a former office manager who both evolved into in-house technology experts, and an attorney turned technology consultant. The panelists will advocate for adopting a broad lens to assess who can be a great “tech person” and share concrete advice on how to craft new in-house tech and data roles that set everyone up for success.

The panel will also share the successes of a volunteer-driven mentorship program which supports the professional development and advancement of legal technologists of color.