There shall be a Department of Assigned Counsel under the direction of a Supervising Attorney who shall be appointed by the County Administrator with a recommendation of the Advisory Board on Indigent Representation and confirmation of the Tompkins County Legislature. At the time of appointment and throughout the term of office, the Supervising Attorney shall be and remain duly licensed and entitled to practice law in the State of New York. The Supervising Attorney shall be appointed on the basis of required legal experience and other qualifications appropriate to the responsibilities of the office.
The Supervising Attorney shall have the power to appoint such deputies, assistants, and employees of the Department of Assigned Counsel as may be necessary to perform the duties of the Office of Supervising Attorney and as shall be authorized by the Tompkins County Legislature. All deputies, assistants, and employees of the Department shall be directly responsible to the Supervising Attorney.
Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the Supervising Attorney shall ensure that all indigent persons are provided with quality legal representation in a timely manner through the Office of Assigned Counsel. To this end the Supervising Attorney shall, with advice from the Advisory Board on Indigent Representation:
(a) 
Develop and monitor program policies, standards, and operational procedures;
(b) 
Ensure that standards of eligibility are developed;
(c) 
Ensure that applicants for counsel meet these standards, through investigation where necessary;
(d) 
Work with the Bar Association to assure adequate attorney participation and training;
(e) 
Supervise and/or locate attorneys to handle assignments;
(f) 
Review and act upon attorney vouchers for work performed;
(g) 
Serve as an information resource;
(h) 
Evaluate client complaints and inform the Advisory Board on Indigent Representation of same.
The Supervising Attorney shall, under the general supervision of the County Administrator, ensure that all operations of the office conform to the policies and procedures adopted by the Tompkins County Legislature.
The Supervising Attorney and the staff of the Tompkins County Assigned Counsel Program and all attorneys participating in the program shall at all times be free from direct and indirect partisan or other political pressure and influence in exercising their best professional judgment and responsibilities in providing services to qualified indigent persons. It shall at all times be the responsibility of the attorneys participating in the program to act in the best interests of the persons for whom they are rendering services.
There shall be an Advisory Board on Indigent Representation consisting of 13 members appointed by majority vote of the Tompkins County Legislature for staggered three-year terms. The members of the Board should represent a diversity of membership in order to ensure insulation from partisan politics; to represent the attorneys participating in the programs; to represent the client community; and shall, to the extent possible, contain representatives of the client community and organizations concerned with the problems of the client community. Two voting members of the Board shall be members of the Tompkins County Legislature.
The Advisory Board on Indigent Representation shall have the authority to draft bylaws for approval by the Tompkins County Legislature, elect officers from its membership, and establish committees. Updated copies of bylaws must be kept on file in the office of the Clerk of the Tompkins County Legislature.
Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the Advisory Board on Indigent Representation shall have all the powers and perform all the duties now or hereafter conferred or imposed by the Tompkins County Legislature. The powers and duties of the Advisory Board on Indigent Representation shall include:
(a) 
Recommending on appointment of a Supervising Attorney;
(b) 
Giving advice to the Supervising Attorney;
(c) 
Making recommendations from time to time as appropriate to the Tompkins County Legislature and the Tompkins County Bar Association;
(d) 
Establishing and maintaining procedures appropriate for the purposes of the Board; and
(e) 
Recommending and reviewing the creation and implementation of such procedures as are appropriate to assure the highest quality of legal representation for indigents who are eligible for legal representation in the most cost-effective manner.