About CLARO
CLARO/SAG
CLARO-SAG is a Brooklyn Law School student organization with the sole purpose of supporting the CLARO legal clinic at the Kings County Civil Court. Students involved in CLARO help setup, provide intake services, and record client data from weekly CLARO clinics. In some instances, students may be permitted to give legal advice or help clients draft pleadings under the purview of a supervising attorney. Law students or attorneys who wish to volunteer should see the How to Volunteer page for more information.
CLARO-SAG is a backronym for "Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office - Student Action Group."
History of CLARO
The Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office (“CLARO”) is a limited, legal advice project for unrepresented debtor-defendants. CLARO is an innovative and collaborative effort currently operating in the New York Civil Courts in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Volunteer attorneys and law students at CLARO respond to the needs of unrepresented debtors in consumer credit cases in New York City Civil Court by advising litigants on self-representation strategies. Programs such as CLARO are part of a greater national pro se movement in legal services which seeks to maximize legal resources for low-income individuals through providing limited-scope legal advice to unrepresented litigants.
In January 2006, the first Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office opened in Kings County Civil Court, after months of planning and collaborative effort by the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Public Interest Center at Brooklyn Law School, in partnership with public interest practitioners and the Supervising Judge of Kings County Civil Court. Today CLARO is a highly regarded program that is fast becoming a city-wide initiative, with additional CLARO programs in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx and through the New York State Access to Justice Program. Each CLARO program is staffed by volunteer lawyers and students from local law schools and is run with the support of the pro bono programs of county bar associations and legal service providers.
CLARO's Mission
While rich in diversity, New York City has a large indigent population. Over 18% of New York City residents live at or below the poverty line.2 While the frequency and impact of Civil Court debt collection cases have grown exponentially in recent years,3 few legal service providers in New York City handle these cases. Elderly persons, single mothers, persons with low-level English proficiency, and low-income people are forced to represent themselves pro se against collection agency attorneys who have vastly greater knowledge of the Civil Court debt collection process and far greater bargaining power.
CLARO attempts to remedy this imbalance. Rather than attempt representation of just a relative handful of litigants, CLARO maximizes the limited pro bono legal resources available to debtors by offering a free walk-in clinic that provides legal advice on how they can best represent themselves pro se.
Other CLARO Clinics in New York City
Bronx CLARO is sponsored by the Bronx County Bar Association, New York City Bar, Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School, Legal Services NYC-Bronx, and NYU Law School Debtors’ Rights Project.
Manhattan CLARO is sponsored by New York County Lawyers’ Association and the Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School.
Queens CLARO is sponsored by the Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project and St. John’s University School of Law.
Please see claronyc.org for information on other CLARO clinics in New York City.
CLARO-SAG is a Brooklyn Law School student organization with the sole purpose of supporting the CLARO legal clinic at the Kings County Civil Court. Students involved in CLARO help setup, provide intake services, and record client data from weekly CLARO clinics. In some instances, students may be permitted to give legal advice or help clients draft pleadings under the purview of a supervising attorney. Law students or attorneys who wish to volunteer should see the How to Volunteer page for more information.
CLARO-SAG is a backronym for "Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office - Student Action Group."
History of CLARO
The Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office (“CLARO”) is a limited, legal advice project for unrepresented debtor-defendants. CLARO is an innovative and collaborative effort currently operating in the New York Civil Courts in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Volunteer attorneys and law students at CLARO respond to the needs of unrepresented debtors in consumer credit cases in New York City Civil Court by advising litigants on self-representation strategies. Programs such as CLARO are part of a greater national pro se movement in legal services which seeks to maximize legal resources for low-income individuals through providing limited-scope legal advice to unrepresented litigants.
In January 2006, the first Civil Legal Advice and Resource Office opened in Kings County Civil Court, after months of planning and collaborative effort by the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Public Interest Center at Brooklyn Law School, in partnership with public interest practitioners and the Supervising Judge of Kings County Civil Court. Today CLARO is a highly regarded program that is fast becoming a city-wide initiative, with additional CLARO programs in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx and through the New York State Access to Justice Program. Each CLARO program is staffed by volunteer lawyers and students from local law schools and is run with the support of the pro bono programs of county bar associations and legal service providers.
CLARO's Mission
While rich in diversity, New York City has a large indigent population. Over 18% of New York City residents live at or below the poverty line.2 While the frequency and impact of Civil Court debt collection cases have grown exponentially in recent years,3 few legal service providers in New York City handle these cases. Elderly persons, single mothers, persons with low-level English proficiency, and low-income people are forced to represent themselves pro se against collection agency attorneys who have vastly greater knowledge of the Civil Court debt collection process and far greater bargaining power.
CLARO attempts to remedy this imbalance. Rather than attempt representation of just a relative handful of litigants, CLARO maximizes the limited pro bono legal resources available to debtors by offering a free walk-in clinic that provides legal advice on how they can best represent themselves pro se.
Other CLARO Clinics in New York City
Bronx CLARO is sponsored by the Bronx County Bar Association, New York City Bar, Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School, Legal Services NYC-Bronx, and NYU Law School Debtors’ Rights Project.
Manhattan CLARO is sponsored by New York County Lawyers’ Association and the Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School.
Queens CLARO is sponsored by the Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project and St. John’s University School of Law.
Please see claronyc.org for information on other CLARO clinics in New York City.