The New York City Bar Association announced Monday 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 indigent people in criminal and family courts who can't be served by institutional legal service providers.

The Joint Bar Association's Task Force on the New York City Assigned Counsel Plan is being formed following increased city and state investment in indigent defense. 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 Law Reform Unit; and Justine Olderman, distinguished scholar in residence at New York University School of Law.

Approximately 600 attorneys, overseen by the ACP, work on 30,000 criminal and family court cases and serve around 100,000 clients per year, according to NYCBA. As many of these so-called 18-B attorneys left the work amid burnout and pay stagnation, remaining lawyers were stretched increasingly thin. Then-New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore voiced her support for increasing their pay in 2022, saying the retention issues go "directly to the heart of our state's commitment to equal justice"

In 2023, New York legal aid organizations representing children in family court pleaded with the state for more funds after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature issued budget proposals that didn't include the requested $15 million increase in funds.

Later that year, a New York state appeals court upheld a 2022 injunction that more than doubled the hourly pay rate for private lawyers representing children and indigent criminal defendants in Manhattan and the Bronx. Prior to that injunction, assigned counsel's compensation hadn't been raised since about two decades ago — a raise that was also the result of a court order. The attorneys were paid an hourly rate of $60 for misdemeanor cases and $75 for all other work.

In light of the injunction, the final 2023-24 New York State budget raised 18-B attorneys' pay to $158 per hour, matching what court-appointed attorneys in the federal system are paid for all matters. However, it did not include a built-in cost-of-living increase, according to NYCBA. 

The new task force plans to evaluate New York City's ACP structure, funding, training and services, according to Monday's announcement.

--Additional reporting by Andrew Strickler and Marco Poggio. Editing by Alanna Weissman.