The task force, formed one year ago amid increased city and state investment in indigent defense, noted a lack of independence from the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, which it says has failed to access the more than $50 million allocated to improve the services it provides to more than 24,000 indigent New Yorkers each year.
Despite the availability of these funds, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, or MOCJ, has not begun to implement any improvement initiatives, nor has it worked with the Assigned Counsel Plan to fill the 34 dedicated staff positions funded in its current contract with the Office of Indigent Legal Services, or ILS, to improve infrastructure and the quality of representation, according to the report.
"Based on the current contract between ILS and the City, the ACP Administration is entitled to partial or full state funding for up to 40 employees," the task force states. "Yet the ACP office currently employs only 15 people."
The agency says it was limited in its ability to independently apply for state grants prior to 2023 because of its budgetary structure within City Hall. Staffing has increased since then, it notes, with the agency now allowed to access ILS funding.
The office has supported the task force's plan to reorganize the Assigned Counsel Plan, possibly as an independent nonprofit, but says the task force has yet to identify a sponsor. The Bar Association has not offered to sponsor a not-for-profit corporation, as County Bars have in other large New York cities. Even then, turning ACP into a not-for-profit corporation would end staffers' status as public employees and would diminish the program's ability to rely on the city for administrative and operational support, according to the agency.
"The Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice agrees with many of the Joint Bar Associations' Task Force findings, including the need to restructure the Assigned Counsel Plan," the agency said in a statement to Law360 on Wednesday. "We also agree the attorneys contracted through ACP continue to provide exceptional service to vulnerable New Yorkers. However, addressing some of the organizational challenges identified in the report with immediate 'fixes' — such as doubling the current administrative staffing — would further complicate that restructuring and chances for long-term success."
The report did not evaluate the performance of individual panel members, whom the task force emphasized "make up an indispensable component of the City's public defense system." A second task force report is expected to outline reform recommendations.
"There are many challenges that face the ACP, but we have welcomed the task force as a partner and we are proud of our work thus far to improve the ACP's ability to respond to the needs of vulnerable New Yorkers," the MOCJ said. "We look forward to hearing more from the task force about their ideas for long-term solutions toward restructuring."
The task force's report blames staffing shortages on the city's lengthy hiring process, saying that several positions have gone vacant for more than a year despite applications coming in from multiple qualified candidates.
"Between December 2023 and January 2025, the ACP extended soft offers to 12 candidates for open positions," the report said. "Of these, only three were eventually hired. The Task Force was told that several qualified offerees accepted other jobs while waiting for City approval."
"The ACP is further hampered because the salaries specified in the contract between MOCJ and ILS are higher than the City's salary schedule, and therefore, the City's Office of Management and Budget has rejected proposed salaries for new staff and raises for current staff," it added.
The Assigned Counsel Plan is subject to the city's lengthy hiring process because of its placement within the MOCJ, which the task force says "subjects the ACP to undue political influence, conflicts of interest, and a lack of insulation from government priorities."
Currently, presiding justices appoint the administrators and promulgate the rules of the Assigned Counsel Plan, according to the task force.
"ACP Administrators are currently appointed by the judiciary and supervised by MOCJ. Judges also form part of the ACP's advisory committees in the Second Department, and the ACP works with the Appellate Division on the selection of panel attorneys," it said. "In practice, the extent to which the judiciary is involved in the operation of the ACP reportedly depends on the philosophy of the current presiding justice of the respective Appellate Division."
The report concludes that the Assigned Counsel Plan "lacks independence, proper governance, and sufficient staffing to provide panel attorneys with the requisite level of support, training, mentorship, and access to experts and specialized professionals set forth by ILS and the [American Bar Association]," arguing that the program "must ultimately be restructured outside of the MOCJ under an independent governing board consistent with ILS and ABA principles."
"Only by acting with urgency and commitment can the City continue to ensure that the low-income New Yorkers who rely on ACP attorneys receive the representation they are guaranteed by law and deserve in practice," the task force says.
--Editing by Nicole Bleier.
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