Sunday, June 6, 2010

NYCLA Advocates for Indigent Members of Society

On behalf of NYCLA and other county bar associations, Haynes and Boone, LLP commenced an action in New York State Supreme Court seeking to block the City of New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Mayor’s Criminal Justice Coordinator John Feinblatt from unilaterally implementing an overhaul of the City’s indigent legal defense system for criminal matters -- a system that was devised and has been operated under a joint plan among the City and the County Bars for more than 40 years. The County Bars brought the lawsuit on behalf of New York’s indigent defendants, who are otherwise without effective means or recourse to challenge systematic inadequacies in the provision of criminal defense services.

The action -- referred to as an “Article 78 Proceeding” -- seeks an order from the court preventing the City and the CJC from further disturbing the status quo unless and until the City reaches an agreement with the bar associations that preserves indigent defendants' access to adequate legal counsel.

Fo more information, follow the link to the full news release: https://www.nycla.org/siteFiles/News/News130_0.pdf

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