Legal Aid Wins in Court of Appeals
TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2008
From left: Max Schwartz, an associate at Kaye Scholer; William Gibney, Director of the Criminal Practice's Special Litigation Unit; David Klingsberg, a member of the Society's Board of Advisors and Of Counsel at Kaye Scholer; Kerry Elgarten, an attorney in the Criminal Appeals Bureau; Elon Harpaz, an attorney in the Criminal Appeals Bureau; Robert Newman, an attorney in the Special Litigation Unit; and Daniel Boglioli, an associate at Kaye Scholer.

The Legal Aid Society won a major decision in the Court of Appeals affecting the sentences of thousands of defendants. The Court struck down a policy of the New York State Department of Correctional Services by which DOCS administratively added post release supervision (a form of parole supervision) to the sentences of thousands of defendants. In the Matter of Elliott Garner v. New York State Department of Correctional Services was handled by Elon Harpaz, a Criminal Appeals attorney. David Klingsberg, Max Schwartz and Daniel Boglioli of Kaye Scholer LLP submitted an amicus brief in the case. Mr. Klingsberg is a member of the Society's Board of Advisers and a former member of the Board of Directors. The New York Law Journal ran a story on April 30.

Kaye Scholer is one of the firms that has been involved in the Society's Post Release Supervision Pro Bono Project. Other firms include Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and O'Melveny & Myers.

For more information on the decision, please see this New York Law Journal article.