NYC Lawmakers Urged To Establish Right To Counsel In Eviction, Foreclosure Proceedings

In a letter urging the City Council of New York City to pass laws which would establish a right to counsel in eviction and foreclosure proceedings for low income persons, Ann B. Lesk, President of the New York County Lawyers' Association, reminds us of the inherent unfairness in the results emanating from a judicial system where only one party is represented by counsel:

• [T]he backbone of our judicial system is the concept that adversarial proceedings produce just results. For an indigent person facing eviction or foreclosure, this is a very theoretical proposition. Numerous studies have documented the unsurprising fact that having a lawyer improves the outcome for a litigant. In [New York City] Housing Court, 90 percent of tenants are not represented by a lawyer (in contrast, less than 10 percent of landlords are unrepresented). Unrepresented litigants face a complex set of procedural and substantive rules. They may have defenses of which they are not aware.

For more, see Don't Just Pass The Senior Citizen Right To Counsel Bill - Expand It.