June 24, 2010
STATE BAR PRESIDENT YOUNGER COMMENDS GOVERNOR AND
STATE LEGISLATURE FOR ESTABLISHING OFFICE OF INDIGENT LEGAL
SERVICES
New York State Bar Association President Stephen P. Younger of New
York (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP) today commended the
Governor and the State Legislature for establishing a new Office of
Indigent Legal Services to monitor, study and ensure the quality of
indigent defense services in criminal cases.
“The current crisis in the delivery of indigent services in New
York has called into question the availability of effective assistance
of counsel for low-income New Yorkers,” said Younger. “The
creation of the Office of Indigent Legal Services is a good first step
in ensuring that quality legal representation is available to indigent
defendants. I commend the Governor and the State Legislature for taking
action on this important issue and look forward to working with them to
further the goal of providing these critical services that disadvantaged
New Yorkers are entitled to receive.”
Enhancing the availability of counsel to indigent defendants has been
among the State Bar’s top legislative priorities. The new law
moves the State in the right direction. In April 2005, the State Bar
first called for the creation of an independent entity to oversee the
provision of mandated indigent criminal defense representation. In June
2007, the State Bar endorsed the recommendations of former Chief Judge
Judith S. Kaye’s Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense
Services, which included the establishment of an independent
commission.
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The 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official
statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary
state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, NYSBA
programs and activities have continuously served the public and improved
the justice system for more than 130 years. For more information, please
visit www.nysba.org.
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