New York State Defenders Association

About New York State Defenders Association

The New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA) is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1967 to support New York's public defense community. Its stated mission is to improve the quality and scope of publicly supported legal representation for low-income people. It operates the state's Public Defense Backup Center, which offers consultations, legal research help, training, and publications to public defense offices and assigned counsel attorneys. It describes itself as a support and resource body rather than a firm that takes on individual client matters.

Its work includes a Veterans Defense Program, a Discovery and Forensic Support Unit that offers consultations, training, and expert referrals, and the Public Defense Case Management System, which is made available to defense offices statewide. NYSDA also advocates on criminal and family defense matters, assists the state Indigent Legal Services Office in developing standards, and sponsors continuing legal education. Its main office is at 40 Beaver Street, 4th Floor, in Albany, and it also uses the Defender Institute training space at 80 State Street in Albany.

Practice areas

Areas of work that New York State Defenders Association describes on its own website. They describe the organization as a whole, not the practice of any individual attorney listed below.

Organization profile based on its official website and public sources (reviewed October 30, 2026). Attorney list from the New York State Unified Court System registration data. Not affiliated with New York State Defenders Association.

Registered attorneys

Registration status can change at any time. Confirm any attorney's current status through the official New York Attorney Search.