Philadelphia City Council has unanimously approved a legislative package that would affect the city’s plan to establish a conflict counsel entity to represent indigent defendants in criminal cases.
The legislation was put forth by Councilman Dennis O’Brien, who has opposed the idea of a for-profit conflict counsel agency since the city put out its initial RFP. The Nutter administration has since rebooted the bid for conflict counsel after canceling its notice of intent to contract to criminal defense lawyer Daniel-Paul Alva earlier this year.
