Legal Aid Society of Nassau County

The Legal Aid Society of Nassau County is primarily a criminal defense organization. That means the vast majority of our clients have been charged with (or convicted of) one or more crimes in Nassau County.

We also handle related matters in which parolees previously convicted of crimes in Nassau County are facing possible revocation of their parole for a variety of reasons. We are not authorized to take on new clients until we have first been assigned to a particular case by a judge.

The only narrow exceptions to this rule are that we represent any person being arraigned at the Nassau County District Court following arrest where that person is otherwise without counsel at the time of arraignment, and we are authorized to provide basic legal counsel and limited representation in certain pre-arrest situations (e.g., when we are contacted by a person whom the police are actively seeking to arrest or question regarding some alleged criminal activity).

Aside from these two exceptions, all other persons charged with a crime but unable to afford a private attorney must first alert the court to their need. The court will then make a determination as to that person's eligibility for assigned counsel.

If and when the court decides counsel should be assigned, an attorney from our office, or in some cases other assigned counsel known as an 18-B attorney, will be notified of that assignment, and representation can commence. A similar process takes place in the Family Court for non-criminal cases.

We do represent individuals in certain cases in the Nassau County Family Court. There, Legal Aid attorneys are assigned by the Court to represent financially eligible adults who are parties in matters concerning child custody and visitation, child neglect and abuse, family offenses (orders of protection) and termination of parental rights. We also represent respondents in paternity cases and in matters involving a violation of a child support order.

The Legal Aid Society does not, however, represent parties in juvenile delinquency proceedings or in PINS (Persons in Need of Supervision) cases.