The phrase "assigned counsel" is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used in legal contexts to refer to a lawyer appointed by the court to represent a defendant who cannot afford to hire one.
Example: "The defendant was provided with assigned counsel to ensure they received a fair trial."
Alternatives: "court-appointed attorney" or "public defender".
The predictable result is an exodus of lawyers from the assigned counsel list.
Chief Judge Judith Kaye and Gov. George Pataki have recognized the need to raise assigned counsel fees.
"Remember who we represent," said Toba Beth Stutz, the president of the assigned counsel association in Queens.
We all have a stake in ensuring that public defenders and assigned counsel have resources comparable to those of prosecutors.
"Unlike a prosecutor or the court," Justice Ginsburg wrote, "assigned counsel ordinarily is not considered a state actor".
PHILIP SCHIFF Sea Cliff, N.Y., April 3 , 2001The writer has served as assigned counsel in Manhattan Family Court.
Having decided to assign counsel to the accused, it will be the duty of the Chamber to ensure that the role of assigned counsel is so fashioned that the trial process, while being expeditious, will protect the fundamental right of the accused to a fair trial (Hearing 02 September 2004, T.32357 32359; see Prosecutor v. Milošević 22 September 2004).
Assigned-counsel lawyers are brought in to work on homicides and other complex cases.
In Manhattan, the assigned-counsel room has one telephone, two bulletin boards and a few tables and chairs wedged in corners.
The notion was that the county bars, with their professional expertise and relative freedom from financial considerations, were better suited to assess and organize assigned-counsel lawyers than the city, which pays their fees.
The assigned-counsel system, stitched together to supplement legal services and public defender agencies, has become increasingly burdened as those services are cut and the Legislature extends the right to counsel to more types of cases.
