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Empire Justice Center:  History

The Empire Justice Center combines the forces and expertise of the Greater Upstate Law Project (GULP) and the Public Interest Law Office of Rochester (PILOR). On January 1, 2004, GULP and PILOR merged internally to form a new, dynamic, statewide organization that combines our expertise in new ways, creates powerful synergies, and allows the new, blended organization to offer a full range of legal services in a greater number of issue areas.  These areas of expertise include core anti-poverty and civil rights issues: domestic violence, housing, predatory lending, consumer rights, disability law, public health programs, SSI/SSD, special education, public benefits, AIDS/HIV, and immigrant rights

GULP provided statewide support to legal services programs for the past 30 years, but had never existed as its own corporate entity.  In 1995, legal service organizations that received federal funding were severely restricted regarding the types of services they could provide to poor people. Organizations that continued to receive federal funding through the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) could no longer file class action lawsuits or engage in legislative advocacy. Then a project of Monroe County Legal Assistance (MCLAC), a program that continued to receive federal funding, GULP became a separate corporate entity. At the same time, MCLAC, dedicated to providing direct legal assistance to low income families in Monroe County, split its own organization creating PILOR. PILOR then became the “unrestricted” program in Rochester, no longer receiving federal funds from LSC. In need of a corporate home, PILOR became a “wholly owned subsidiary” of the newly incorporated Greater Upstate Law Project, Inc.  A single Board of Directors oversaw both “sides” of GULP, Inc. 

The state support side (GULP) continued to provide technical assistance and legal backup to the legal services community across the state. GULP acted as an informational clearinghouse, engaged in legislative and administrative advocacy and undertook major litigation in the often complex and daunting areas of poverty law.

PILOR continued to provide unrestricted, direct legal assistance in Monroe County and the surrounding five county areas, but also expanded its scope of services to include policy analysis and advocacy, focusing on systems changes that had impact well beyond Greater Rochester. PILOR also undertook major litigation with statewide impact.

Until recently, each side of the organization had its own management, its own budget and the leaders of each organization reported to the Board.  The annual audit was conducted as an overall organizational audit but was then broken down to review the standing of GULP and PILOR individually. 

Having spent more than five years as this dual agency often confused and frustrated by what seemed to be barriers to efficient management, in 2002, GULP and PILOR embarked on a complete merger.  We applied for, and were chosen as, a Capstone Project of the Executive MBA Program of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).  Beginning in December 2002, a team of four EMBA students began meeting with us to devise a strategy for the merger.  At the conclusion of the Capstone Project in June 2003, GULPILOR, as the EMBA students referred to us, had a strategic plan for the merger process.  With their help, we devised a new organizational structure, blended budgets and many administrative systems and internally merged our offices and staffs.  The team also made several recommendations, one being that the “new” organization choose a new name and go through a branding process. 

And with this, the Empire Justice Center is born.