Dyan Gershman is a longtime New York City legal professional who guides Gershman Law, PLLC, where she delivers solutions spanning complex contract negotiations and mergers and acquisitions, both for her US and international clients. An active presence in her community, Dyan Gershman is a member of the New York City Bar and supports efforts of the affiliated City Bar Justice Center.
The nonprofit’s 2023 Impact Report assessed underserved community needs in the context of legal counseling and referrals provided by staff and more than 2,000 pro bono volunteers. Over the course of the previous year, 90,000 people accessed the center’s online resources, with 25,000 receiving free legal assistance. In addition, 8,000 people were assisted via community outreach initiatives.
Nearly one-fourth of those assisted faced issues in the housing sector, while 20 percent had family issues to resolve. Consumer, income maintenance, employment, and immigration issues rounded out the list and were all under 10 percent of the total.
In all, clients received $23 million in no-cost legal services and benefitted from more than $8.9 million in settlements, monetary awards, and direct benefits. In addition, clients were able to divest around $2.1 million in debt via foreclosure prevention and bankruptcy advocacy services. They also preserved $136,000 in wealth through avoiding levies such as garnishments and recoupments, as well as through securing filing fees.
One of the major thrusts of the program was advocating on behalf of New Yorkers who were homeless. To that end, the NYC Migrant Youth Initiative was launched in late summer 2022. This urgently needed program gave pro bono attorneys in-depth training and mentoring in areas such as delivering clinics related to Immigration Relief Screening, Know Your Rights, and the Freedom of Information Act. These served to provide a baseline of information that enabled people to secure immigration status, as well as essential documents such as identity cards.
