Tag: lris

We thank our volunteers and partners for their invaluable contributions to the Queens Pro Bono Legal Clinic on October 1st, 2025. We extend our sincere gratitude to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), the Asian American for Equity (AAFE), AALFNY, AABANY, all of our dedicated volunteers and the MOIA immigration resource workshop participants.

We especially thank Commissioner Manuel Castro, Lily Liang, Community Liaison, and Shaina Torres, Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives from the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) for their insightful community education training and for sharing MOIA resources with us to help create a better and safer New York City for everyone.

Thanks to our volunteers’ dedication, we were able to assist 15 clients with a wide range of legal concerns, including housing, immigration, matrimonial and family law, employment, and criminal cases.

Our volunteer attorneys and interpreters demonstrated exceptional patience and commitment in addressing client questions, offering guidance, and connecting them with further legal support through AABANY’s Legal Referral and Information Service (LRIS). We are proud to offer our services in both Mandarin and Cantonese, allowing us to continue our mission of providing crucial support to individuals facing linguistic or cultural barriers in accessing quality legal care.

Too often, those who face language barriers find themselves overwhelmed and powerless in the face of a complex legal system. Without access to interpretation or culturally informed advocacy, they may not fully understand their rights or the options available to them. Seeing the fear and uncertainty in their eyes is a stark reminder of the urgent need for accessible legal aid.

For many of the AABANY volunteers, this mission is deeply personal. As children or descendants of immigrants, our attorneys and interpreters understand firsthand the struggles that accompany language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and systemic inequities. Helping these clients is, in many ways, like helping our own parents, neighbors, and communities – a way to honor those who paved the way before us and ensure that others today do not face the same struggles alone. 

AABANY remains steadfast in its commitment to give back to AAPI communities, advancing access to justice and empowerment to those who have been marginalized by the barriers of language, culture, or circumstance.

Here are some of the clients’ comments from this evening’s pro bono clinic:

“I felt truly listened to; the attorneys explained everything clearly and patiently.”

“Very wonderful legal service.”

“Made me feel less alone in my situation.”

We thank the following volunteer attorneys:

• Wendy (Wen-Hsien) Cheng
• Richard In
• Johnny Thach
• Yilan Wang
• Anthony Wong
• May Wong
• Helen Wu
• Gary Yeung

Our sincere appreciation also goes to our dedicated interpreters and shadowers:

• Nandar Win Kerr
• Ruixuan Yi
• Wendy Zeng
• Shang Zhai
• Jessie Zhou

We invite you to continue supporting our community by joining us at our upcoming pro bono clinics:

November 8th [Brooklyn link here], from 12:30 – 3:30pm, CPC Brooklyn Community Services, 4101 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11232

November 19th [Manhattan link here] from 6:30-8:30pm, AAFE Community Center, 111 Norfolk Street, NY, NY 10002

December 3rd [Queens link here], from 6:30 – 8:30pm, One Flushing Community Center, 133-29 41st Ave, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355

Future Community Education Speaker and Topic Announcement

In collaboration with the Issue Committee, Vishal Chander, one of PBCS Committee’s incredible volunteers and Issues Committee Co-Chair, will provide 30-minutes Basic Immigration training Part 1 on November 19th at Manhattan Clinic and Part 2 on December 3rd at Queens Clinic from 6 – 6:30pm. 

This training series will prepare lawyers and law students the fundamentals of advising pro bono clients who are or have family in removal (deportation) proceedings. CLE credits will be given to attorneys who attend both trainings.

We look forward to your participation in our future clinics!