The New York City Assigned Counsel Plan (“ACP”) represents persons facing criminal charges who cannot otherwise afford a lawyer in over 24,000 cases throughout the City of New York. Since 1965, following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), which established the constitutional right to counsel for people charged with crimes who cannot afford counsel, ACP’s mission has been to provide those accused of crimes in the City of New York with quality representation. To this end, ACP provides critical resources to assist ACP panel attorneys as they represent indigent New Yorkers, including Supervising Attorneys for mental health representation, adolescent and emerging adult representation, parole representation, and DNA representation. ACP also encourages the use of ACP experts including investigators, social workers, interpreters, medical professionals, and forensic science specialists in their cases. ACP provides free training programs and CLEs to panel members throughout the year.