Smiley v. Smiley

Appeal from so much of an order of the Supreme Court at Special Term, entered November 15, 1973 in Tompkins County, as requires the County of Tompkins to provide counsel or, in the alternative, to pay the counsel fees of the defendant in Action No. 1 and the plaintiff in Action No. 2. The. essential facts are not in dispute. The petitioners are parties to separate matrimonial actions. They are indigent and were initially represented by the Cornell Legal Aid. It developed that there were certain conflicts of interest between petitioners as clients and Cornell Legal Aid, and the latter withdrew…