Legal Aid Society reaches tentative agreement with union ahead of strike deadline, keeping 1,100 attorneys on the job

The Legal Aid Society has reached a tentative agreement with its attorneys’ union, the organization announced Wednesday evening — ensuring that 1,100 public interest attorneys will stay on the job ahead of the union’s previously determined Friday strike deadline.

The union chapter, Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys – United Auto Workers Local 2325, had authorized a strike at the end of June as its contract with management expired. Attorneys demanded higher pay, lighter workloads, and greater retirement benefits as Legal Aid cited insufficient funding from the city as its reason for being unable to pay lawyers more.

After weeks of stalled bargaining with gradual progress, the union terminated its collective bargaining agreement and set a strike deadline for this Friday, promising to walk off the job without a contract.

With Wednesday’s tentative agreement, the offer will head to union membership for a vote. In a statement to amNewYork, ALAA Local 2325 head Jane Fox wrote that the union will be back at the table in 2026 to fight again for a more robust contract.

“While we are proud of these historic gains on workload protection to increase retention, a first-of-its-kind student loan fund, 20 weeks parental leave, retiree health benefits, and more, we were fundamentally left behind by Mayor Adams and our employers on salaries and pensions,” Fox wrote. “Our members will vote on this contract next week, but regardless if they vote it up or down, we won a reopener guaranteeing no matter what, we will be back to win the salaries and pensions we deserve next year.”

Both management and the union have called on Mayor Eric Adams to prioritize legal services funding more. This would allow higher salaries for workers at Legal Aid and analogous organizations across the city. Many of these workers have gone on strike or threatened to do so amid expiring contracts this month.

Though the city added $20 million to this year’s adopted budget for legal services, attorneys and legal organizations say it is not enough.

In a statement to amNewYork, Legal Aid CEO and Attorney in Chief Twyla Carter wrote that the organization is “pleased to announce that The Legal Aid Society and ALAA have reached a tentative agreement on a renewal collective bargaining agreement that avoids a work stoppage and allows our invaluable staff attorneys to continue serving low-income New Yorkers — on a wide range of essential legal matters — without interruption.”

“Across the five boroughs, staff attorneys — alongside our entire team at Legal Aid — devote themselves each day to delivering vital legal services to vulnerable New Yorkers,” Carter wrote. “But for too long, their pay has not reflected the complexity or importance of their work — the result of decades of underfunding by State and City government.”

Deanna Logan, the director of the Mayor’s Office for Criminal Justice, wrote in a statement, “The attorneys at the Legal Aid Society provide invaluable service to some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, which is why the Adams administration committed significant new funding to the organization earlier this year.”

“We were thrilled to hear the union came to a tentative agreement with our provider, charting a path forward that will help avoid any disruption to our justice system,” Logan wrote.

Though the city plays a key role in Legal Aid’s ability to operate as a nonprofit contractor, the city is not a party to union negotiations.

“We were thrilled to hear the union came to a tentative agreement with our provider, charting a path forward that will help avoid any disruption to our justice system,” Logan wrote.

Legal Aid, for its part, has continued to acknowledge that it would like to pay its attorneys more, but lacks the funds. The union raised concern throughout the bargaining process that comparatively low wages and high caseloads for public interest legal service workers lead to poor employment retention and burnout across the board. Thus, the union has argued, higher pay is essential to continue and improve the quality of work at Legal Aid.

“While today’s development represents meaningful progress, we know that ensuring fair compensation and lasting support for our mission will require sustained investment from both Albany and City Hall,” Carter wrote. “We look forward to partnering with ALAA as a united front in the fight to secure the resources that both honor the vital contributions of our staff attorneys and support the long-term sustainability of a career at Legal Aid.”

Had Legal Aid’s union gone on strike, the city would have lost its largest provider of legal aid attorneys. Parallel negotiations at other legal service providers — including the Center for Appellate Litigation, Appellate Advocates, the Office of the Appellate Defender, Bronx Defenders, Goddard Riverside Law Project, Urban Justice Center, CAMBA, and New York Legal Assistance Group — have yielded some tentative agreements. Still, scattered strikes have already led to hundreds of employees walking off the job.

The city contracts with 500 private attorneys under its 18B Assigned Counsel Plan, who can cover for work left by a strike. During a strike, management also frequently assumes workloads.

During a rally last week, legal service workers at Legal Aid and other organizations urged the city to increase funding to providers. They cited the federal government’s increasing targeting of immigrants as a moment requiring greater resources to fight in court. Attorney General Letitia James, a former Legal Aid employee, and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens), the Democratic nominee for mayor, spoke at the rally supporting the union chapters.