Assigned Counsel program aims to take over case assignments, hire investigators and reduce county claims costs with state funding
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Summary
Shane Huck, Assigned Counsel administrator, outlined a plan to centralize assignment of court‑appointed private attorneys, add in‑house investigator/IT staff under state funding, and use a new billing/case tracking system to reduce growing county claims driven by family court cases.
Shane Huck, administrator of Albany County’s Assigned Counsel Program, told the Legislature on Oct. 23 that the office will seek to take over assignments of court‑appointed counsel, hire new in‑house staff funded by state grants and use data and billing systems to reduce growing county costs for private attorney claims.
Huck explained that under the new Assigned Counsel Plan the office will begin appointing attorneys in family and criminal courts rather than relying on judicial appointment lists. He said the county bears a significant share of attorney claims (bills submitted by private attorneys after court appointments) and that family court claims account for roughly 83% of PIP claims received this year and about 70% of costs the office has paid to date.
To reduce those costs, Huck described plans to hire a family court supervising attorney (state funded through ILS family court funding), a full‑time investigator, an IT discovery technician and a paralegal/data specialist. He said those staffing additions would be 100% funded with state grant dollars guaranteed through March 31, 2027, and that providing some investigative and discovery support in‑house should be less expensive than paying private attorneys to retain those services after appointments.
Huck said the assigned counsel budget includes a large attorney claims line — the packet shows a legal fees/transcripts line budgeted at about $2.07 million for 2026 — and that the office has spent about $1 million so far this year against that line. He said the office envisions using a case tracking and electronic billing system to reduce errors, improve data collection required by state funders and cut administrative time currently spent querying attorneys about billing errors.
Huck said taking over assignment responsibility will require operational changes and additional state‑funded staffing; he acknowledged implementation will have growing pains but said the goal is to increase quality and reduce county costs by using state funds strategically.
Legislators asked about major budget lines and the plan’s potential to drive down county costs; Huck said success depends on effective implementation and that the state funds will cover the new positions through the guaranteed grant period. No formal votes were taken.
