In less than a year since implementation, the Office of Indigent Legal Services’ Standards and Best Practices for Appellate and Post-Conviction Representation1 are already serving as a road map for best practices. This article addresses the standards overall with particular attention to four of the 26 standards that have resulted in the most discussion from the bar: Collateral Litigation—Standard XX, Meeting With the Client—Standard IX, Issue Selection—Standard XXII and Mandatory Brief Review—Standard IV.
When the Office of Indigent Legal Services (ILS) was created by the New York State Legislature in 2010, its core mission was to improve quality and set standards for the representation of indigent clients. The impetus for the creation of ILS was the 2006 Kaye Commission report,2 which laid bare the constitutionally inadequate indigent defense system in New York. Among the report’s findings were:
