By Noah Powelson<\/p>\n
With just over a month until their contract expires, labor talks at Brooklyn Defender Services, the city\u2019s second-largest public defense organization, have stalled, prompting union attorneys to accuse management of bad-faith bargaining and raise the possibility of a strike.<\/p>\n
Union representatives for attorneys at Brooklyn Defender Services, which absorbed a large number of Queens Defenders employees last year after the Queens organization\u2019s executive director was arrested on fraud charges<\/a>, sent an open letter to management on Monday, May 18, demanding they either accept or give a counter-proposal to the union\u2019s proposed labor contract, which they sent to the organization nearly two months ago. <\/p>\n In the letter, the union accused the nonprofit of refusing to meaningfully negotiate a new labor agreement ahead of the June 30 expiration of their current contract. <\/p>\n \u201cWe call on management to promptly come to the bargaining table with good-faith, reasonable proposals regarding core economic issues for the new bargaining agreement,\u201d the union said in the letter.<\/p>\n The proposed contract includes increases to salaries and provisions regarding \u201cremote work, free speech, and workload limits,\u201d according to the union. <\/p>\n The contract negotiations come at a fraught time for Brooklyn Defender Services and its chapter of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, which have sparred over labor disagreements several times over the past year. The strained relationship between ALAA and BDS\u2019 executive director, Lisa Schreibersdorf, reached a boiling point last year when attorneys accused Schreibersdorf of illegally attempting to dissolve their union<\/a> by promising an attorney financial rewards for starting a competing one. <\/p>\n The negotiations also come as BDS faces an uncertain economic future. With the state\u2019s budget over seven weeks late and the city\u2019s budget still unclear, public defender organizations, which receive most of their operating funds from taxpayers, are left without a clear picture of how much money they\u2019ll have to pay their employees. <\/p>\n In response to the letter, Schreibersdorf told the Eagle that the organization has continued to work with the union on finding a deal, but that bargaining has reached an impasse until the city and state agree on final budgets. <\/p>\n During a March City Council meeting<\/a>, officials with BDS, The Legal Aid Society, New York County Defender Services and the Bronx Defenders said they need an additional $100 million to $150 million in the coming year to recruit and retain their public defense attorneys. <\/p>\n \u201cThe issue is that New York City has not provided the funding we need to give staff the salaries we feel they deserve,\u201d Schreibersdorf said in a statement. \u201cWe appreciate that the city is listening to our request, but they have yet to provide any additional funding or clarity regarding their intentions in this budget.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cGiven that we are approaching the June 30 contract deadline, we have now indicated we will make a salary offer to the union despite the difficulty of uncertain funding,\u201d Schreibersdorf added.<\/p>\n The two sides have held several bargaining sessions ahead of the contract\u2019s expiration. <\/p>\n BDS\u2019 bargaining committee, which includes attorneys working in the organization\u2019s Queens office, has made several major demands in their current contract proposal, including a $75,000 wage floor with a completely restructured wage step system they say will help employees keep up the rising cost of living. The union is also demanding better health and retirement benefits, as well as changes to the company\u2019s return-to-office and workload limit policies.<\/p>\n BDS\u2019 union contract is also set to expire at the same time as unionized attorneys working at The Bronx Defenders, Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem, Catholic Migration Services and the Center for Family Representation. Over 1,000 attorneys at the Legal Aid Society will also begin negotiating their salaries around the same time, though their contract does not expire this year.<\/p>\n In all, over 2,000 attorneys and legal aid staffers will be negotiating new salaries throughout the end of June.<\/p>\n If the public defender organizations fail to agree on a new contract by the end of June, the city could see a repeat of the threat of a mass legal aid strike that occurred last year.<\/a><\/p>\n In 2025<\/a>, roughly 750 legal services workers across seven organizations went on strike as their collective bargaining contracts all expired at the same time. <\/p>\n The labor action had the potential to be the largest mass public defender strike in over 30 years, as attorneys at the Legal Aid Society \u2013 the city\u2019s largest public defender organization \u2013 threatened to join the picket line. Hundreds of workers continued to strike for months, but deals between various legal aid organizations and their unions were made before a mass strike truly gridlocked the city\u2019s courts.<\/p>\n While this year\u2019s potential strike may not pose the same citywide risk, it could have a major impact on Queens. BDS\u2019 absorbed the criminal defense practice of Queens Defenders last year after the ouster of Lori Zeno, Queens Defenders\u2019 founder and former executive director. The city cut their contract with QD just before federal prosecutors accused Zeno and her husband, Rashad Ruhani, of syphoning off funds from the nonprofit. Many of the attorneys working at QD were hired by BDS to continue their work in the World\u2019s Borough. The Brooklyn organization also took over one of QD\u2019s offices in Queens. <\/p>\n There are over 570 members in BDS\u2019 bargaining unit, over 120 of which are former Queens Defenders employees, according to the union. <\/p>\n Forrest Stakelum, a member of the BDS union bargaining committee and staff attorney in the organization\u2019s Queens criminal defense practice, said a strike is still a potential possibility.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we hope that management ceases their stalling tactics and provides us with serious counters, nothing is off the table,\u201d Stakelum said. \u201cManagement and the city can not be allowed to continue taking advantage of our workers and their dedication to the people of this city, especially as the cost of living rises exponentially from month to month.\u201d <\/p>\n Escalating labor fights at Brooklyn Defender Services<\/p>\n Issues between BDS and their union ignited in August 2025, not long after the nonprofit took on Queen Defenders\u2019 criminal defense contract.<\/a> <\/p>\n At the time, BDS management ended their work from home policy and required staff to come into the office five days a week. To enforce the new policy, BDS staff were required to install an application that used geo-location data to verify where they were to clock in and out of work. <\/p>\n The policy change sparked outrage from union leaders<\/a>, who said BDS leadership had made the change without first discussing the policy with the union. <\/p>\n The union picketed BDS\u2019 office Downtown Brooklyn several times in August and September. They also filed grievances with the National Labor Relations Board, but the policy changes went through, nonetheless. <\/p>\n Also last year, the union cried foul when former Queens Defenders staff, all of whom were put on six-month probationary periods regardless of how long they had been working at QD, were being subject to different rules and policies than their Brooklyn peers. <\/a><\/p>\n Then, in September 2025, a BDS union delegate came forward and claimed that Schreibersdorf offered them a suite of benefits in exchange for starting and running a rival, company-backed union. The whistleblower, an elected union representative who requested anonymity, told union leaders and the Eagle that Schreibersdorf offered them lower caseloads and better pay as long as the whistleblower succeeded in decertifying the ALAA-backed union. <\/p>\n The whistleblower said that Schreibersdorf also gave them a list of names of BDS workers who she believed would be sympathetic, as well as the contact information for attorneys who could help with the union creation process.<\/p>\n