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The Federal Defenders of New York vigorously defends persons charged with federal crimes who cannot afford to hire an attorney. We are an independent, non-profit organization with lawyers practicing in the federal courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. We have offices located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, White Plains, and Central Islip.

Our mission is straightforward: provide the highest-quality representation to our clients by drawing upon the collective skill, dedication, and passion of our entire staff. Although we provide our services free of charge, our clients should receive the finest representation available at any price. We subscribe to a client-centered approach to legal representation. We listen to our clients, pay close attention to their individual needs, and respect their dignity and autonomy in making decisions about their own cases and lives. Our lawyers work closely with investigators, social workers, paralegals, information technology specialists, and other experts to address all aspects of a client’s circumstances and obtain the best results possible.

Although we focus solely on fighting for our individual clients, we recognize that we do not practice in a vacuum. We serve communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the lack of true justice in America’s criminal justice system. Many of the social ills that exist in society at large, including most especially racism and classism, are particularly present in that system. The United States imprisons far more of its population that any country on earth. And the people imprisoned are overwhelmingly and disproportionately poor and people of color. In the federal courts in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, approximately 75% of those charged with crimes are Black or Latinx. Over 80% are too poor to afford a lawyer. A high percentage also suffer from addiction, mental illness, and a history of trauma. We at Federal Defenders exist to serve individual clients but with a recognition that our work is part of a larger story.