I don't know how I feel about that. I mean on the one hand, it feels like ambulance chasing, but on the other, they're providing the exact thing everyone leaving those cells needed. Food, drink, legal advice.
Do you think turf wars start with competing law-firms over that spot?
Their work is pro-bono and the engagement technically starts a bit earlier than leaving jail. The lawyers guild is also the group that fields observers to record what demonstrators/police have actually done in protests.
Also the coffee/donuts are usually a separate set of people, lay volunteers up in the middle of the night trying to keep track of people to make sure they're processed quickly enough, or to give them said coffee/donut or a couple of bucks to catch the subway home. The keyword you're looking for is "jail support" http://organizingforpower.org/jail-support-solidarity/
As long as the work is pro-bono (which I assume it would be), I welcome this kind of ambulance-chasing. I see it as a checks and balance mechanism against police power abuse.
On the other hand, tax payers are always the losers because they have to pay for both police salary, prosecutor salary, and any legal settlement money for lawyers.
Do you think turf wars start with competing law-firms over that spot?