Public Service Program

The Public Service Program is a private/public partnership with the City's prominent law firms, where firms either lend their attorneys to the Law Department for a finite period of time or agree to take on City cases in-house.

The Program benefits both the City and the law firms. The City receives the assistance of an incredibly well-trained and talented group of attorneys, while the attorneys receive the kind of hands-on, in-court litigation experience that is often hard to come by at the best private law firms.

While participation in the Program will not lead to offers of permanent employment at the Law Department, it will enable the volunteers to enhance their legal skills while serving the public.

Participating law firms may offer assistance in several different ways:

Deposition Program: Volunteer law firm associates obtain hands-on experience conducting depositions on Law Department matters, which range from individual damages actions to complex class actions and multi-party litigation. Participants receive training from Law Department attorneys and the deposition schedules can be tailored to meet each firm’s needs.

In-House Firm Program: Law firms take newly filed matters in-house, giving partners and associates the chance to handle cases from inception to disposition. This includes participation in depositions, motion practice, court conferences, settlement negotiations, and, ultimately, trials. Issues handled have included premises liability, motor vehicle accidents, inadequate supervision, wrongful incarceration, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and labor and employment.

Secondment Program: The Law Department can host law firm attorneys in volunteer positions during secondment periods ranging from four to twelve months. We offer these associates practical training and real world experiences that prepare them for client matters when they return to their law firms, including federal and state court motion practice, depositions, court appearances, client meetings and settlement negotiations.

If your firm is interested in participating, please contact Faye Lubinof at 212-356-2693 or flubinof@law.nyc.gov.

Law firms donating services have included:
Baker & Hostetler LLP
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Chadbourne & Parke LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
Covington & Burling LLP
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Dechert LLP
DLA Piper
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Duval & Stachenfeld LLP
Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP (now Locke Lorde Edwards)
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer LLP
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright US)
Goodwin Procter LLP
Granger & Associates LLC
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Holland & Knight LLP
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Kaye Scholer LLP
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Labaton Sucharow LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
Levi Lubarsky & Feigenbaum LLP
Linklaters LLP
Loeb & Loeb LLP
Lynch Rowin LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
Milberg LLP
Miller Korzenik Sommers LLP
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello P.C.
Nixon Peabody LLP
Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
Patton Boggs LLP (now Squire Patton Boggs)
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Proskauer Rose LLP
Pryor Cashman LLP
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
Ropes & Gray LLP
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Sokoloff Stern LLP
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
White & Case LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Winston & Strawn LLP