Public Safety & Justice Quiet since Aug 8 Updated Aug 8, 2026
The public defenders' strike wave
Public defender unions across New York City have staged a wave of walkouts this month over pay and working conditions, starting with Neighborhood Defender Services, then a five-day Brooklyn Defender Services strike, and now about 300 Bronx Defenders. The strikes threaten to slow cases for clients who cannot afford private lawyers.
The story so far
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Aug 8, 2026 Latest
More than 400 Bronx Defenders attorneys, social workers and staff returned to court after their union reached a tentative contract with raises and expanded benefits, ending the strike that began July 28, Gothamist reported.
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Aug 3, 2026
More than 400 Bronx Defenders attorneys and staff entered a second week on strike Monday, the longest public defender strike in New York City since the Legal Aid Society's 10-week walkout in 1982, as an 11th day of picketing continued at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, where a federal mediator has begun working the talks. Brooklyn Defender Services had already ended its own four-day strike on July 21 after reaching a deal.
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Jul 30, 2026
The Bronx Defenders strike stems from a dispute over decoupling attorney and social worker pay, cutting social workers out of a $10,000 starting raise for lawyers even after the city's $32 million funding boost this year, leaving starting social worker salaries at $88,100 while each social worker carries about 50 clients. The walkout already delayed a Bronx stabbing prosecution, adjourned to September when the defendant's public defender did not appear.
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Jul 28, 2026
About 300 Bronx Defenders walked off the job Monday, the third public-defender union to strike this month after Neighborhood Defender Services and a five-day Brooklyn Defender Services walkout.
Gothamist 
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