State Bar files memo in support of IPDC bill

The New York State Bar Association has submitted a memorandum in support of the Public Defense Act of 2009. Noting the multiple studies and commissions that have examined the State’s public defense system, the memo recognizes that the current system is “underfunded, overburdened with excessive caseloads, and plagued by inadequate support services.” The State Bar “SUPPORTS the passage of this critically needed legislation.”

Without touting the State Bar’s own award-winning efforts to create public defense standards, the memo notes the lack of “statewide standards by which to evaluate what is an ‘adequate’ public defense system.” Submitted after President Michael E. Getnick’s June 17th legislative priority letter to legislators, reported here, the memo in support demonstrates the State Bar’s dedication to public defense reform.

A general bar association, the State Bar is the largest voluntary bar association in the United States, with over 70,000 members. Among its 23 specialized substantive law sections and more than 60 standing, special and other committees is the Committee to Ensure the Quality of Mandated Representation. This group drafted the public defense standards adopted by the House of Delegates – the State Bar’s governing body – in 2005. Those standards, along with standards developed by the New York State Defenders Association, and others, will be used by the Public Defense Commission in the initial evaluation of existing public defense providers. (Section 499-G(2) of the bill.)