SenorJuansie t1_itmccaj wrote on October 24, 2022 at 6:25 PM

Reply to comment by ConstitutionalCarrot in Where Are the Free Housing Attorneys NYC Promised to Tenants Facing Eviction? - Hell Gate by LittleWind_

> and will never go under like a private firm would.

i understand landlord's outrage over this. the LL firms had a lean system in housing court based on pro se opponents and zero substantive litigation occuring.

but i'm not sympathetic to it at all. i don't agree that most tenant's side litigation is frivolous, and as for delay, that is the standard for defendant-side litigation since the beginning of time. And i've done plenty of affirmative cases against the usual players in the landlord's bar (in private practice), and they can delay and waste my client's money as good as any defense lawyer.

ConstitutionalCarrot t1_itmf4l0 wrote on October 24, 2022 at 6:43 PM

Sure, and all this is why I left L&T practice, but then legal aid still doesn’t have a leg to stand on to complain that they are overworked and underpaid when they could prioritize those cases where real defenses exist on the facts, against actual slumlords who are breaking the law.

They are incentivized to take this tact as to all cases, however, as they are in a position that benefits uniquely from delay since it allows their client to remain in possession without paying legal fees and often without paying rent.

When LL attnys delay it prejudices their clients who are actually paying legal fees, such that the cost of litigation is weighed against the benefit of proceeding with a frivolous case.

Ultimately, and this is what I would always discuss with the legal aid attorneys outside of court, the system benefits the attorneys on both sides. Legal aid just likes to take a bit more umbrage, in my experience.