In 2004, when the Legal Aid Society was facing a crippling budget gap, board chair Patricia Hynes pulled the agency back from the brink of bankruptcy. Colleagues of Hynes said she spent “countless hours working unpaid virtually full time” for Legal Aid, as it sought to restructure amid massive debt, layoffs and the resignation of its president. Under her leadership, an extra $9 million in donations was raised and some of its most burdensome obligations were renegotiated. Cost-saving measures eliminated a $22 million operating deficit that year, allowing Legal Aid to continue to provide legal services to thousands of poor New Yorkers.
Four years later, Hynes became president of the New York City Bar during the financial downturn. Responding to the needs of New York’s legal community, Hynes led the city bar in hosting a series of career advice programs for laid-off attorneys and assisted deferred associates with finding placements with public interest groups.
