Our Trailblazer in Law: An Interview with Susan Shin

We’re proud to announce that our Legal Director Susan Shin was named to City & State‘s inaugural Trailblazers in Law list, which “puts a spotlight on attorneys, academics, public officials and others who have shaken up the legal field in New York.”

Sue has been a force at New Economy Project and in the field for almost twenty years. As our Legal Director, she has spearheaded groundbreaking impact litigation, helmed our NYC Financial Justice Hotline, and much more.

In the following Q&A, Sue speaks about her career path and highlights a few of New Economy Project’s legal victories. 

Q: Congratulations on being named a Trailblazer in Law! It’s hard to imagine, but you almost took a completely different career path. Is that right?

SS: It’s true. I was a literature major as an undergrad, then studied and taught piano for seven years before deciding to become a public interest lawyer. Through NYU law school clinics and summer internships, I explored a few types of public interest law, including immigrant rights and foreclosure prevention. I learned about New Economy Project early on. In fact, while I was a law intern with South Brooklyn Legal Services, I used New Economy Project’s maps detailing mortgage lending patterns to file housing discrimination complaints with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Then, in 2006, I began focusing on debt collection lawsuit cases while working at Legal Aid. Those cases were really exploding at the time, overwhelming the court system and wreaking havoc on the lives of low-income New Yorkers. New Economy Project had launched its NYC Financial Justice Hotline the year before and was one of the few groups working on these issues in New York.

Debt collectors, or more often debt buyers, were filing thousands of frivolous lawsuits for which they had no proof. They used what we call “sewer service” – that is, they would falsely state that they’d served people with notice of the lawsuit against them, when really, they might as well have thrown that notice in the sewer, as the saying goes. Without notice, people could not show up to defend themselves in court, and debt buyers would get default judgments, which they would use to freeze people’s bank accounts.

These cases were devastating. I was getting frantic calls from people, many of them immigrants and people of color, who’d woken up one day and found their bank accounts frozen or depleted. “I have no money,” people would tell me. “I can’t buy food, I can’t pay rent, I can’t even buy my medications.”

I joined a group of advocates, including New Economy Project, to fight for changes to New York State law, and in 2008, we won passage of New York State’s Exempt Income Protection Act. The law ensures that a certain amount of money in people’s bank accounts remains protected from debt collection.

When I saw a job opening at New Economy Project in 2008, I jumped at the chance to apply. I really appreciate how the organization takes a multipronged approach to addressing economic justice issues – integrating diverse strategies such as direct legal services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, community outreach and education, and applied research.

Q: Under your leadership, New Economy Project has won several monumental cases relating to predatory debt collection. In 2015, we reached a $60 million settlement in a class action lawsuit against a ring of debt buyers. And in December, we won an appeal in another critical case involving sewer service, the illegal practice of not notifying people that they’ve been sued. Tell us about the latter.

SS: In 2020, Ms. Sharae Banks called our hotline, saying that her wages were being garnished for an alleged debt she didn’t owe. We looked into her case and saw that she’d been the victim of sewer service and that there were many other flaws in the case brought by the debt buyer, which had already garnished $16,000 of her wages.

To our shock, the court said Ms. Banks had waived her right to challenge the judgment because she had waited more than one year past the start of the wage garnishment. This ruling was outrageous to us. Ms. Banks was a busy single mom working a full-time job, had a long commute, couldn’t afford an attorney, and had only just learned about our hotline.

We brought an appeal with co-counsel, and in December 2023, the appellate court issued a decision stating that more than one year of wage garnishment by itself was not enough to determine that somebody has waived their fundamental due process rights. Ms. Banks was then able to challenge the garnishment and seek restitution of her garnished wages.

Q: What a huge win. Will this decision help others who are fighting debt collection cases?

SS: Absolutely. In fact, the same day that we received the appellate ruling, I was scheduled to volunteer at Bronx CLARO, a clinic where we help low-income New Yorkers who are facing debt collection lawsuits. Towards the end of my session, a woman came in with her court papers. As I was reading her papers, I got very excited. Usually I just get very angry!

This time I was pleased because the debt collector in her case was making all kinds of arguments that were no longer valid thanks to the decision we’d received earlier that same day from the appellate court.

I’ve also spoken with colleagues at other legal services organizations who say they’ve already been able to use our decision for their clients. This is incredibly gratifying to hear.

Q: What motivates you to do this work?

SS: I appreciate that our financial justice advocacy makes a huge and immediate difference in people’s lives. At the same time, we’re fighting for long-term systemic change. The cases we address through our financial justice hotline inform our policy advocacy and impact litigation – as well as broader campaigns to win bold, transformational solutions to economic and racial inequality.

It’s also a huge joy to work with such an amazing team of inspiring advocates who believe passionately in the work we’re doing.