"ALBANY - Janet DiFiore on Tuesday renewed a tradition of state chief judges, albeit in a scaled-down way, highlighting the benefits of infusing state aid for civil legal services that occurred under her predecessor, Jonathan Lippman.

At a hearing at the Court of Appeals, DiFiore said the previous six years of growing state increases in funding for civil legal services has "irrefutably" shown that it "makes sense economically and as a matter of public policy" to provide legal help to low-income New Yorkers as they try to secure health care, education, housing or social services benefits

DiFiore's first Judiciary budget as chief judge, for fiscal year 2016-17 (NYLJ, April 15), contained a record $100 million in state aid to civil legal services providers..."

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