Claimants Denied Unemployment Benefits: A Pro Bono Opportunity for Hard Times
Fordham Law School
140 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
McNally Amphitheater
Monday, June 22, 2009
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Unemployment Insurance Benefits are more important than ever for New Yorkers who have lost their jobs in this time of severe economic distress. Please join us for a colloquium for the legal community to discuss how we can increase pro bono representation by attorneys for claimants denied these essential benefits at the hearing and agency appeal levels. The keynote speaker will be Leonard D. Polletta, Chair of the NY State Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board. Invited participants include law firm pro bono coordinators, legal services and legal aid programs, other entities with unemployment practices, law schools and bar associations.
Purpose: This Colloquium brings together members of the legal community with an interest in Unemployment Insurance Benefits cases to address how better to organize around this issue; how to increase pro bono representation for claimants denied benefits, and what is currently being done to address increased representation in UIB cases.
Opening Remarks - Chairman Leonard D. Polletta, Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board
PANEL #1: An Overview of Unemployment Insurance Law
- How the system works
- The need for Pro Bono attorneys in Unemployment Insurance Cases
- Common grounds for denial
- Administrative hearings and appeals before the Board
PANELISTS
Lynn Kelly, Executive Director, City Bar Justice Center - Moderator
Andrew Stettner, National Employment Law Project
Goethy Guareno, Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board
Panel #2: What is the current state of Pro Bono representation in Unemployment Insurance Benefits Cases?
- Assessing whether pro bono representation, as it stands, is sufficient to address the current UIB crisis?
- Barriers to Pro Bono involvement
- Models of Pro Bono involvement
- Law student involvement in unemployment insurance benefits cases
- How can we best use the resources that we currently have?
PANELISTS
Bill Dean, Volunteers of Legal Services - Moderator
Jennifer Brown, Pro Bono Counsel, Morrison and Foerster
Carol Neiditch, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley
Julia Rosner, Legal Services of New York Manhattan
Robyn Weinstein, Outgoing Regional Co-Chair of Unemployment Action Center/Incoming Director of Volunteers of Legal Services Unemployment Project.
For further information concerning this colloquium or to RSVP, please contact Jessi Tamayo, Associate Director, Fordham Law School's Louis Stein Center for Law & Ethics at (212) 636-6988 or jtamayo@law.fordham.edu .
Planning Committee: Fordham Law School Cooper Family Chair on Urban Legal Issues, City Bar Justice Center, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, Legal Services NYC, Manhattan Legal Services, MFY Legal Services, Inc., National Employment Law Project, NYS Office of Court Administration, The Legal Aid Society, Pro Bono Net, Law Help, The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, UAC, Volunteers of Legal Services, Workers Defense League