NYSACDL Membership is Vital to
Everyone Practicing Criminal Defense in New York State!

Join online or download PDF form to fax or mail.

2025 Membership Rates:

• Premium Membership* - Life Member: $2,525
  

• Premium Membership* - Life Member – Quarterly Payments over Two Years: $316.25
  
  
• Premium Membership* - President’s Club Member: $616 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• Premium Membership* - Sustaining Member: $380 - Monthly Payments Available!

• Regular Member: $271 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• Public Defender Member: $176 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• New Attorney Member - Practicing less than 5 years: $176 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• Part-Time Attorney Member - Annual income under $50,000: $176 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• Allied Professional Member - Non-lawyers who assist in the defense of criminal cases: $229 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• Retired Attorney Member: $114 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• Recent Law School Alumni Member - Less than 1 year from completion: $87 - Monthly Payments Available!
  
  
• Law Student Interested in Criminal Defense Practice: $0 - Free

Above dues amounts include an optional $15 donation to the NYSACDL Foundation, Inc.

*Premium Members Receive Special Recognition in every issue of Atticus, at www.NYSACDL.org, and are included in the Defenders Circle for the duration of their membership or two years, whichever is longer.

Who We Are

New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NYSACDL) is a statewide organization of criminal defense attorneys, representing over 1,400 private attorneys and public defenders who practice in courthouses in all parts of New York State. We are the New York affiliate of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a professional bar association founded in 1958 that has over 40,000 members nationally.

What We Do

• We provide access to a network of experienced colleagues. Members who are on trial and need immediate answers to state or federal practice questions can post to our email listserv and colleagues from around the state will respond with help.

• We provide training opportunities. NYSACDL produces highly-rated CLE seminars for private and public defenders throughout the state focusing on criminal justice topics and featuring top criminal defense practitioners.

• We’ve got members’ backs. The NYSACDL Strike Force provides immediate assistance to members who have been subpoenaed, threatened with sanctions or contempt or otherwise attacked in the course of providing zealous representation.

• We promote our members. NYSACDL members are listed in a searchable database on our website. Contact and brief biographical information in this resource is available to the general public. Additionally, members may submit professional successes and major news for possible listing in our Atticus publication and social media outlets.

• We are heard by the judiciary. The NYSACDL Amicus Committee regularly submits briefs on legal or constitutional issues of state and national importance.

• We are heard in Albany. The NYSACDL Legislative Committee, working through a lobbyist, regularly responds on proposed legislation affecting the criminal justice system.