Her Justice
Her Justice engages the talent and resources of New York City’s law firms, bringing together committed lawyers and determined women to secure life-changing results.
Fast approaching its 25th anniversary in 2018, Her Justice was founded by Catherine Douglass, who remained Executive Director of the organization for almost 22 years when she was succeeded by the current Executive Director, Amy Barasch, in September 2014.
Since 1993, Her Justice has ensured that low-income New York City women receive critical legal services in matters of family, matrimonial and immigration law that help them achieve safety, self-sufficiency, and stability. We provide a full range of free legal services—information, advice and counsel, preparation of documents and full court representation, enabling vulnerable women to navigate a complex legal system.
Her Justice staff screens clients daily to identify women with challenging issues that would result in serious injustice without legal help. Through volunteer partnerships with legal firms and corporations, Her Justice has assisted thousands of women in freeing themselves from abusive relationships, retaining custody of their children, staying in their homes, becoming legal residents of the US and obtaining the financial support to which they and their children are legally entitled. For low-income women, legal counsel can make the difference between long-term stability and extreme poverty, even homelessness.
Every year our star attorneys train, supervise and mentor more than 1,500 volunteer lawyers from over 60 legal firms across New York City. This ‘pro bono’ first model makes Her Justice unique, as by engaging the talent and resources of New York City law firms and corporations, we are able to exponentially increase the number of women who access justice or go to court with their own lawyers and obtain the legal protections that they and their children need and deserve.
Her Justice offers a full range of free legal services that address the needs of low-income women and their children, especially those who have suffered domestic violence and immigrants who are isolated by language and culture. The women and children we serve reside in all five boroughs of New York City (29% in the Bronx, 28% in Queens, 22% in Brooklyn), 53% are Latina, 25% African-American and 14% are Asian or from another minority group. All clients are in desperate need of legal support; 85% are survivors of intimate partner violence; 71% are mothers and 70% were born abroad.
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