OAD MISSION STATEMENT
The Office of the Appellate Defender (OAD) is a not-for-profit firm devoted to providing high quality representation to indigent persons convicted of felony crimes. OAD's primary practice is criminal appeals in state court and collateral proceedings in state and federal court. OAD is a unique hybrid - part law firm, part training program - that has built a national reputation for attracting outstanding lawyers and finding innovative ways to serve the poor. Created in 1988 by a resolution of the Administrative Board of the Courts to help relieve a backlog of appeals in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, First Department, OAD has fulfilled its mission by providing quality defense at the appellate level, while training countless lawyers in the practice of appellate advocacy. Every year OAD serves hundreds of indigent clients, the overwhelming majority of whom are incarcerated in state prison. For many of its clients, OAD is the only hope for justice in a system that too often fails to treat poor people fairly.
OAD is devoted to maintaining and training a staff of lawyers with diverse backgrounds and experiences. The office attracts some of the most outstanding new lawyers in the nation and every OAD staff member shares a profound commitment to defending the underdog and to public service. Many of OAD's staff attorneys have clerked for prominent judges in the federal or state courts. OAD also employs distinguished law graduates straight out of law school and lawyers with non-judicial post-graduate experience. In an expansion of its training mission, in 2003, OAD was invited to create and teach a clinical class for New York University law students. As part of this program, eight to ten NYU students represent, under the supervision of an OAD supervisor, an OAD client on appeal. The second component of the clinic is a weekly seminar on appellate advocacy. As part of its Volunteer Appellate Defender (VAD) program, associates from some of New York's top private law firms work with an OAD supervisor representing an OAD client on appeal. VAD participants, who receive extensive training and supervision, have primary responsibility for all aspects of the representation, including arguing the client's case to a panel of the Appellate Division, First Department. VAD offers volunteer attorneys an opportunity for a fulfilling experience and helps instill a commitment to public interest service in lawyers whose practices otherwise do not include serving indigent clients. For more information about VAD, please click here.
Though OAD's principal practice is representing indigent people convicted of felonies on direct appeal in the state courts, each of OAD's attorneys is committed to serving his or her clients fully - which often means much more than filing a direct appeal. OAD also represents numerous clients in their efforts to obtain work release or parole, to deal with immigration problems, or to get admitted into rehabilitation programs. In some cases, OAD represents clients who have been unsuccessful in obtaining relief in state court by bringing habeas corpus petitions in federal court. OAD also takes on a small number of appeals from juvenile delinquency adjudications and has been certified to handle capital appeals.
In 2007, OAD launched the Reinvestigation Project, which focuses on cases that require resource-intensive reinvestigation into facts that might establish that our clients were wrongfully convicted. The Project uses a screening system to identify cases that pose a high risk of wrongful conviction. Where potentially exculpatory evidence is uncovered through our reinvestigation, OAD lawyers move to reopen the case in trial court.
OAD is committed to assisting its clients with non-legal matters as well; in 2001, OAD expanded the scope of its work by creating the Social Work/Re-entry Program, staffed by a social worker and social work interns. This program allows us to provide greater assistance to our clients facing problems within the prison system and once they have been released from prison.