NY Law Students Fight Employment Discrimination

In New York State, over one hundred occupations require some type of license, registration, or certification by a state agency. New York law restricts access to many of these licenses based on an individual's criminal record. While the law also allows an individual's right to appeal when denied a license, both a lack of knowledge about the appeals process and limited access to attorneys contribute to few appeals.

However, law school students in the NYU Offender Reentry Clinic are working to change that by representing ex-offenders when they are denied state licenses. As reported in the NYU School of Law News, on April 21, 1010 the students work was recognized by The New York Department of State who gave citations to the clinic students.

'"[Professor]Tony Thompson and the class gave applicants access to legal services they wouldn’t have had," said Joel Barkin, deputy secretary of state for public affairs at the New York Department of State. "These citations are recognizing how important the clinic has been.”'

Congratulations to the Offender Reentry Clinic. The Taskforce thanks you for much needed work!