Clare Degnan

For 33 years, Ms. Degnan has served Legal Aid Society of Westchester County (LASW) as Associate Counsel, Senior Associate Counsel, Deputy Bureau Chief, Mount Vernon Bureau Chief, Deputy Chief Counsel of Local Courts, and Acting Executive Director. In July 2015, the LASW Board appointed Ms. Degnan as the first female Executive Director in LASW’s history.

Ms. Degnan is the President of the Chief Defenders Association of New York. She is a delegate for the 9th Judicial District for the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) of the House of Delegates. Ms. Degnan is a member of the NYS Bar Criminal Justice Section as Co-chair of the Villages, and Justice Courts Sub-committee Wrongful Convictions Sub-committee, Mandated Representation, and Family Court Section of the NYS Bar Association.

Under her leadership, LASW received grants from the Offices of Indigent Legal Services to fund and develop the Regional Immigration Assistance Center and the Assigned Counsel Resource Center.

In 2024, LASW will open a state-of-the-art training center complete with moot court room to provide training programs for LASW attorneys and the entirety of the 9th Judicial District.

In 2019, the NYSBA Mandated Representation Committee awarded Ms. Degnan the NYSBA Excellence in Mandated Representation Award.

Ms. Degnan graduated from SUNY Purchase in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science; she graduated from Albany Law School in 1989 and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1991.