New Resource for Low-Income People in Debt

On August 26th, St. John's School of Law and Legal
Services NYC (LS-NYC) announced the creation of the Bankruptcy Advocacy Clinic,
through which St. John's law students will learn about bankruptcy law while
providing bankruptcy assistance to low-income New Yorkers.

The St. John's/LS-NYC Clinic
will help overburdened debtors eligible for assistance obtain bankruptcy relief
from debt – creating a lifeline for the working poor in the continuing economic
downturn by helping them pay their rent or mortgage and buy food, instead of
servicing debt. 

As a nationally recognized
leader in the study of bankruptcy law, St. John's School
of Law is uniquely positioned to offer this assistance.  The School publishes the American Bankruptcy
Institute Law Review, and offers the only Bankruptcy LL.M program in the United States.
The School's annual Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court
Competition draws competitors from throughout the United States to competitions
judged by leading bankruptcy and appellate court judges. Dean Michael A. Simons
said, "The Law School is thrilled to partner with Legal Services NYC to offer
this invaluable resource for needy New Yorkers during one of the most difficult
economic periods since the Great Depression. 
Not only are we providing real and meaningful work experience for our
students, but we are helping people in our community get back on their feet and
enabling them to be a part of reviving our local economy."

The Clinic, which will be
taught by William Z. Kransdorf, is an offshoot of LS-NYC's successful Bankruptcy
Assistance Project (NYC BAP), which is also headed by Mr. Kransdorf.  NYC BAP has become a national model of pro bono and bankruptcy advocacy.  Over the past five years, the Project has
trained hundreds of bankruptcy attorneys and law students in the nuts and bolts
of bankruptcy advocacy.  NYC BAP-trained
volunteers have provided assistance to nearly 2,500 debtors.  Virtually all the petitions prepared through
the Project have led to successful bankruptcy discharge for the petitioners –
on average, over $42,000 per debtor has been discharged.  "I am grateful to St. John's for having the
vision to make this partnership possible," said Mr. Kransdorf,  "this project will help our clients and help
to instill a sense of social consciousness and of the importance of indigent
legal advocacy in a new generation of lawyers."

Legal help for low-income
debtors seeking bankruptcy has never been needed more – unemployment in New York City is at 9.4%,
while consumer (mostly credit card) cases in the civil court system have ballooned
to 577,000 in 2009, up from 200,000 a decade earlier.  In New
York City, consumer bankruptcy filings in 2007 were
69% higher than in 2006.  And in the
third quarter of 2008, the federal courts in Manhattan
and Brooklyn recorded about 36% more filings
than in the same period a year earlier. 
And recent data shows that consumer debt continues to escalate – nationally,
last quarter bankruptcy filings were up 34%. Yet, with the changes implemented
to the bankruptcy laws in 2005, Congress made it far more difficult to file for
bankruptcy.

About Legal Services NYC

Legal Services NYC is the
largest organization in the United States
exclusively devoted to providing free civil legal services to low-income
people, with neighborhood offices in every borough of New York City.  It provides free help on
cases involving housing, family issues, domestic violence, public benefits,
income tax, employment, education, consumer rights and economic development.

William Z. Kransdorf,
coordinator of the New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project, has practiced
indigent legal services and bankruptcy law in both New
York and California.
He graduated from Harvard
Law School
in 1992, and has led NYC BAP since November 2005. He has given presentations
around the country on pro bono and
bankruptcy advocacy.

About St.
John's School
of Law

Celebrating over 80 years of
excellence in legal education, St.
John's School
of Law has produced lawyers who have distinguished themselves in practice,
government, and the judiciary.  Among its
graduates are former New York
governors Mario M. Cuomo and Hugh L. Carey, current Court of Appeals Judges
Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick and Theodore T. Jones, and the School's former Dean
and former Court of Appeals Judge Joseph W. Bellacosa.  The Law
School plays a prominent role in the New York City legal
community, imbuing all that it does with the University's Vincentian tradition.