The Assigned Appellate Counsel Plan (Plan) administered by the Appellate Division, Third Department functions to provide quality and professional appellate representation to those persons who qualify for assignment of counsel. Each assigned case is monitored to ensure that every recipient of Plan services is fairly and appropriately represented and that appeals are timely and expeditiously perfected, objectives that are considered essential to the Plan’s success. As part of its commitment to the above, the Plan’s administrative staff is always available to attorney participants to assist in responding to specific questions or problems.

The Plan’s administrative staff also responds to numerous daily inquiries from members of the public (most often prospective or present appellants) in an effort to provide a readily available resource to assist in applying for poor person status and assignment of counsel, as well as answer inquiries or address concerns once an assignment has been made.