New York State Releases Caseload Standards for Family Court Public Defense lawyers

The New York State Officie of Indigent Legal Services (OILS) has released Caseload Standards for Parents’ Attorneys in New York State Family Court Mandated

Representation Cases. The standards are intended to cover public defenders, assigned counsel and other attorneys assigned to provide mandated representation for people who cannot afford their own lawyer in various types of family court cases.

The standards include both maximum annual case assignment limits and a minimum average number of hours attorneys should spend on each case.

Cases are broken down into thirteen case categories:

• paternity;
• willful violation of support;
• willful violation other;
• family offense;
• guardianship;
• violation of conditional surrender;
• adoption;
• modification of prior order;
• custody/visitation;
• conditional surrender;
• neglect;
• abuse; and
• TPRs (termination of parental rights).

Approval of the standards is contingent upon the availability of State funding to implement the standards. The full report can be found here.