Mentees Send In Those Surveys

Mentees, this is a post dedicated to all of you; a reminder to please fill out the surveys as fully as you are able by June 30. (You have two days.) We can really use your feedback and are grateful for your time. Thanks!

NYCLA Joins in Filing Civil Action to Challenge Mayor's Plan to Change Indigent Defense Plan

On June 18, NYCLA joined with the Bronx, Kings, Richmond and Queens County Bar Associations in filing a civil action in New York State Supreme Court alleging that recent attempts by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the City of New York and the Criminal Justice Coordinator to overturn the City's indigent defense system are unconstitutional under the New York and United States Constitutions.

This most recent action follows the filing of an Article 78 proceeding on June 2 to challenge the City's unilateral overturning of the indigent defense system operated for more than 40 years through a joint plan among the City and County Bars.

The June 18 complaint alleges that the City's actions threaten to undermine indigent defendants' already limited access to meaningful and effective representation, and that the actions violate the guarantees of access to counsel, due process, equal protection and separation of powers. The complaint seeks to halt the City's contract procurement process and preserve the status quo unless and until the City reaches an agreement with the County Bars that preserves indigent defendants' access to adequate legal counsel.

To read the June 18 release about the filing of the civil action, click here: https://www.nycla.org/siteFiles/News/News131_0.pdf

technical difficulties

it appears that with our recent blog renovations, we lost the prior results from our pro bono survey--please vote again. also, comments on the "new look" are welcome...

New Chair for the Professionalism Task Force

Jim Kobak has appointed Ron Minkoff to succeed him as Chair of the Professionalism Task Force.

Ron is one of New York State’s leading practitioners in the field of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, representing attorneys in a wide variety of matters including partnership disputes, disciplinary cases, and malpractice and intentional tort actions. He is Adjunct Professor of Professional Responsibility at New York University School of Law. He is a member of the NYSBA Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct and the NYSBA Special Committee to Review the Code of Judicial Conduct of the American Bar Association. He is a member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism, and a past President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. Ron is one of the principal authors of the Ethics Institute’s soon to be released treatise: “The New York Rules of Professional Conduct: Practice and Procedure,” Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2010.

Welcome Ron!

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