New York

The Indigent Legal Services Board is composed of nine members. The chief judge of the court of appeals is the chair of the board. The governor appoints six members based on the following recommendations: 

• One member on the recommendation of the temporary president of the senate; 
• One member on the recommendation of the speaker of the assembly; 
• One member from a list of at least three attorney nominees submitted by the New York state bar association; 
• Two members from a list of at least four nominees submitted by the New York state association of counties; and 
• One member from a list of no more than two nominees submitted by the chief administrator of the courts, each of whom should be a retired justice formerly elected to the supreme, family, New York City criminal, or county court. 

For the remaining two members, the governor must appoint two attorneys, one of which must have provided public defense services for at least five years. No active prosecutor, law enforcement official, or person providing prosecution-related services can serve on the board.

State law gives the power to administer local indigent defense systems to counties but sets up a few requirements. In counties with a public defender office, the board of supervisors or county legislature must appoint a chief public defender and set the term and salary for the position. Public defenders must provide both criminal indigent defense services as well as parental representation in family court proceedings. In counties with a private attorney system, the plan for delivering services must be approved by the Office of Indigent Legal Services and attorneys must be compensated at the hourly rate set by the state.

The director is nominated by the Indigent Legal Services Board and ratified by the governor. If the governor fails to act on a nomination within 30 days, the nominee commences their term as director. If the governor rejects a nomination, the board has sixty days to submit another nominee and can authorize an interim director to serve during this period. The director must be a licensed attorney with no less than five years of experience in public defender services and a demonstrated commitment to the provision of quality public defense representation and to the communities served by public defense providers.

The Office of Indigent Legal Services distributes state funds to counties and New York city in three ways: (1) discretionary or “quality enhancement” distributions, (2) competitive grants in support of innovative solutions, and (3) reimbursements for expenses relating to the implementation of a New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) lawsuit and its statewide extension. In 2007, the NYCLU, in partnership with a private law firm, sued the state alleging a failure to fulfill their Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments obligations to provide right to counsel services. The named plaintiffs in the lawsuit were people from five different counties who had faced criminal charges and been deemed financially eligible for assigned counsel. The lawsuit settled in 2014 and the settlement required the state to fund quality improvement reforms in the five counties. In 2017, the state legislature extended the reform measures statewide and required that any costs associated with implementing the reforms be reimbursed by the state.

The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) contracts with several legal services providers to deliver indigent defense services. A panel of private attorneys handles conflict cases. The MOCJ and the judiciary oversee the panel. Legal Aid Society is the city’s primary service provider; it provides representation at trial in all five boroughs. There are five additional institutional indigent defense providers in the city: New York County Defenders (in Manhattan), Brooklyn Defender Services, Bronx Defenders, Queens Law Associations, and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. Institutional providers handle approximately three-quarters of the cases in New York City while the panel of private attorneys handles the rest.

The Office of Indigent Legal Services is housed in the executive branch of New York’s state government.

The Office of Indigent Legal Services does not provide direct appellate representation. Rather, it established the Statewide Appellate Support Center to provide support to counsel providing services across the state. The center provides training and resources not only to appellate counsel but also to trial-level indigent defense providers.

The Office of Indigent Legal Services (ILS) established the Appellate Defender Council to inform ILS’s efforts in improving appellate representation across the state of New York. The council is composed of 30 members, almost half of whom are chief appellate attorneys at defender offices around the state. ILS has worked with the council to develop CLE appeals programs, proposed appellate legislation, and revisions to the ILS Appellate Standards and Best Practices.

In New York City, appellate representation is delivered by the Legal Aid Society, the Appellate Advocates, the Center for Appellate Litigation, and the Office of the Appellate Defender.