The New York City Bar Association announced that it has teamed up with the city’s county bar associations to form a task force assessing the NYC Assigned Counsel Plan, which assigns lawyers to low-income people in criminal and family courts.

The task force will be co-chaired by three attorneys: David Patton, a partner at Hecker Fink LLP; Philip Desgranges, Attorney-in-Charge of the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Law Reform Unit; and Justine Olderman, distinguished scholar in residence at New York University School of Law.

Desgranges’ involvement in this task force builds on his previous work of ensuring that low-income people receive high-quality legal representation. Before joining Legal Aid, Desgranges was counsel in Hurrell-Harring v. State of New York, a class action that challenged the state’s failure to create and support a public defense system that ensured low-income people received meaningful and effective assistance of counsel. The lawsuit resulted in a historic settlement agreement that addressed the state’s failure to provide adequate funding, resources, and oversight to the public defense system.

Approximately 600 attorneys, overseen by the ACP, work on 30,000 criminal and family court cases and serve around 100,000 clients per year. While recent monetary adjustments to the program have been made, more work is required to ensure there is enough funding to ensure that all New Yorkers have equal access to quality representation. In addition to funding concerns, the new task force will evaluate ACP structure, training, and services.

Congratulations to Phil on this important appointment.