Criminal Law Policy: Legal Aid Attorney Takes Charge

• Philip Desgranges, an attorney from the New York Legal Aid Society, has taken charge of the special litigation unit of its criminal defense practice. In his new role, he aims to challenge incarceration, policing and forensic practices, and push for policy reform.
• Desgranges and his team are focusing on several issues such as New York City’s law enforcement response to George Floyd’s murder protests, the city’s storage of DNA without a warrant in civil lawsuits, addressing mental health care, sentencing reform, and closing Rikers Island jail.
• Desgranges has worked as a staff attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union, a public defender with The Bronx Defenders, and a commercial litigator at Goodwin Procter LLP. The special litigation unit continues to work on lawsuits challenging the New York State prison system’s practices and is advocating for the expansion of treatment courts and eligibility through the Treatment Not Jails Act.

NY Legal Aid Society Attorney Takes Charge of Special Litigation Unit Amid Reform Push

Philip Desgranges, a New York Legal Aid Society attorney, has taken the helm of the criminal defense practice’s special litigation unit during the organizations efforts to challenge incarceration, policing, and forensic practices, and to advocate for policy reform.

Desgranges, as the unit’s new attorney-in-charge, will supervise civil rights litigation and policy work. The unit is currently addressing issues such as NYPD’s response to George Floyd protests and the city’s database of DNA allegedly collected without a warrant in civil lawsuits.

The team led by Desgranges is also addressing topics like mental health care, sentencing reform, and the closing of Rikers Island jail, a contentious issue that has been ongoing for several years. Desgranges emphasized the need for accessible treatment programs for people, arguing that it would serve both the interests of Legal Aid’s clients and the safety of the community.

Prior to his new role, Desgranges was a staff attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union, a public defender with The Bronx Defenders, and a commercial litigator at Goodwin Procter LLP. He has also been involved in challenging the detention of individuals accused of parole violations, which became moot after the enactment of the Less is More Act.

The unit under Desgranges continues to address the prison system’s practice of holding sex offenders beyond their sentences, police stops of public housing residents, low-level offenses arrests, and judicial diversion through initiatives like the Treatment Not Jails Act.

Desgranges highlighted the importance of accessible mental health services in the community and noted that Governor Kathy Hochul’s plan to fund outpatient mental health services should be upheld. He also mentioned the proposed Jury of Our Peers Act, aiming to restore the right to serve on a jury in New York state to persons with a felony conviction after their release from prison.

As the unit progresses with its work, Desgranges mentioned the importance of the community in shaping their litigation and policy priorities. “That kind of direct connection to the community really helps uplift and inform our law reform work,” he said.

Tina Luongo, Chief Attorney of the Legal Aid Society’s criminal defense practice, praised Desgranges’s efforts in advocating for and securing critical reforms in the criminal legal system, and emphasized the benefits of having him lead the criminal defense practice’s law reform efforts in his new role.

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