Employment Opportunities at ILS

This position is based in Buffalo at the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services’ (ILS’) Western New York Regional Support Center (WNY RSC), a satellite office of ILS, which is based in Albany. The WNY RSC addresses the compelling need for ILS to provide state expertise for local governments and providers of public defense to assure that the reforms initiated by the Hurrell-Harring settlement and its extension statewide under Executive Law § 832(4) will be implemented as effectively and as efficiently as possible in western New York counties.

The WNY RSC houses the Attorney in Charge and three staff attorneys, one Resource Support and Data Specialist, and one Administrative Assistant. The WNY RSC works collaboratively and directly with the counties in the WNY Region and their public defense providers (i.e., Public Defenders, Conflict Defenders, Legal Aid Societies and Assigned Counsel Programs) to achieve quality improvement reforms. All case-related information and knowledge obtained in the performance of these duties is highly confidential and may be subject to attorney-client privilege.

The attorney in this position will serve as Assistant Counsel and report to the Director of Quality Enhancement, Parent Representation in Albany, who works under the guidance of the Director of ILS (“Director”) and agency Counsel (“Counsel”). The Assistant Counsel will also work collaboratively with the Attorney-in-Charge and other staff in the WNY RSC to address public defense provider-specific needs and to promote regional initiatives.

Specific duties include:
• Working closely with other members of the WNY RSC and the Family Representation Unit at ILS, state and county officials, public defense providers and other interested organizations and individuals to facilitate development and implementation of regional initiatives, particularly in the area of parent representation in Family Court matters with a focus on utilization of an interdisciplinary, client-centered approach to representation;

• Serving as the ILS point person for counties in the region and their providers of mandated Family Court representation, assisting in the development and implementation of programs, initiatives, and competitive grant proposals to fulfill ILS’s responsibility to make efforts to improve the quality of representation in Family Court matters. This will include regular communication with the Family Court providers, stakeholders, and county officials and periodic travel to the counties.

• Working collaboratively with the Attorney-in-Charge and other staff at WNY RSC towards successful implementation of the ILS reform plans within the region, identifying challenges to implementation, and working collaboratively with county officials and public defense providers to develop creative solutions to meet the challenges. This includes regular communication with the counties, their providers, and occasional in-person meetings in the counties;

• Assisting in the development of curricula and training materials for the representation of parents in Family Court matters;

• Providing consultation to public defense attorneys in matters involving the representation of parents in Family Court matters upon request:

• Assisting with the planning, conducting, and evaluation of ILS’ biennial family defense state-wide conference;

• Monitoring and developing content for the ILSFAM listserv, including periodic case digests and legislative updates, training opportunities, and current events;

• Assisting in the preparation of reports as needed in support of ILS’s responsibility to examine, evaluate, and monitor provision of legally mandated representation in Family Court matters;

• Working closely with the WNY Resource Support and Data Specialist to promote access to non-attorney professional support services and to ensure collection and reporting of all relevant data, and with WNY RSC Criminal Defense Counsel and Appellate Counsel to identify inefficiencies and propose structural improvements in the delivery of representation;

• Occasional overnight travel to Albany for in-person meetings with ILS colleagues;

• Undertaking such other activities as may be requested by the Director and Counsel in furtherance of ILS’ overall responsibility to improve the quality of indigent legal services representation under County Law Article 18-B.

Salary: $109,180

Application Deadline and Instructions: Applications are due by March 28, 2025. The full vacancy announcement and application instructions can be found here: https://statejobs.ny.gov/public/vacancyDetailsView.cfm?id=180620

The Resource Support and Data Specialist reports to the Chief of the Criminal Defense Representation (CDR) Unit and has two-fold primary responsibilities:

1) Cultivate and communicate to providers of public criminal defense information on available specialized professional services including but not limited to investigators, expert witnesses, case workers, social workers, interpreters, mental health evaluators, and sentencing advocates; and

2) Liaise with the ILS Research Unit on public criminal defense data collection and reporting and assist the ILS Data Outreach Officer in working with public defense providers to build their expertise and capacity to collect accurate and consistent data on caseload, quality initiatives, and counsel at arraignment; case outcomes; staffing; and spending.

Specific duties include:

• Works with CDR Regional Counsels to identify criminal public defense provider specialized professional service needs such as investigators, experts, mitigation specialists, social workers, and interpreters, and gathers information on available services to make available to providers.

• Collaborates with ILS Special Assistant for Investigations and ILS Special Assistant for Mitigation on strategies for enhancing public criminal defense provider access to and use of specialized professional services.

• Tracks available funding for use of specialized professional services.

• Works closely with the ILS Data Outreach Officer to ensure consistent tracking of all required data pursuant to ILS instructions and definitions.

• Maintains familiarity with all ILS data collection requirements and reviews provider criminal data submissions to assist the ILS Research Unit’s in assessing provider and county compliance as needed.

• Communicates effectively with the Criminal Defense Representation Team, the ILS Research Unit and when needed with public criminal defense representation providers and County Data Officers to assist data collection compliance by ILS with Executive Law § 832(4).

• Manages projects with multiple tasks and deadlines, including identifying challenges and brainstorms solutions.

• Assists with special projects in furtherance of ILS’ mission to improve the quality of public defense representation as needed.

Salary: $84,246

Application Deadline and Instructions: Applications are due by April 14, 2025. The full vacancy announcement and application instructions can be found here:https://statejobs.ny.gov/public/vacancyDetailsView.cfm?id=182586