The Settlement, approved in March 2015, requires New York State and the five defendant counties to improve the delivery of public defense services in four key areas:

1. Counsel at Arraignment;
2. Caseload Relief;
3. Initiatives to Improve the Quality of Indigent Defense; and
4. Eligibility Standards for Representation.

Under the terms of the Settlement, the State is obligated to fund these initiatives.

The Settlement vested the responsibility of implementing these reforms in ILS. With this directive, ILS immediately began putting together the Hurrell-Harring implementation team. Working closely with the five counties, the HH team ensures compliance with the terms of settlement and encourages their continued improvement to the settlement’s four key areas of public defense.

Counsel at Arraignment
Caseload Relief and Quality Improvement
Eligibility Standards