Public Interest

Our commitment to the public interest is reflected first and foremost in the kind of law we practice—we vindicate the rights of workers who have suffered discrimination and other legal wrongs. Obtaining justice for them is our business and it is also our passion.

But we go further: We devote a portion of our practice to pursuing these goals even where there is no good business reason to do so—where justice seems within our grasp but the wrong is relatively small in monetary terms. In such cases, advocating for the wronged worker is not a business judgment but a reflection of our commitment to social justice. Hence, we represent low-income individuals and classes of claimants in such matters for little fee or no fee at all in certain cases, up to four percent of our practice.

In addition to our representation of individuals and classes of individuals as described above, O&G lawyers volunteer in a very broad range of law-related public service organizations including the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the American Bar Association.

We serve on the boards and on committees of various public interest organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch; and we afford free representation to pro se litigants in mediation of employment-related matters in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York and for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.