State Police Superintendent Names Chief Counsel and Deputy Counsel

(Albany, NY – February 12, 2009) -New York State Police Superintendent Harry J. Corbitt today announced the appointments of Mr. Darren O’Connor as the State Police’s Chief Counsel and Ms. Lois Goland as Deputy Counsel. These appointments will be effective February 17, 2009.

Darren O’Connor is a 1980 graduate of Fordham Law School and has served with the State Police Counsel’s Office for the past nine years, four of those as a Deputy Counsel. Prior to serving with the State Police, Mr. O’Connor was an Assistant Attorney General and Section Head in the Attorney General’s Office. Other prior experience includes work as a litigation associate in private practice with the firm Debevoise & Plimpton, work with the Criminal Appeals Bureau of the Legal Aid Society, and a clerkship for Court of Appeals Judge Judith Kaye. Mr. O’Connor will supervise a staff of eight attorneys, including two Deputy Counsels and six Assistant Counsels.

Lois Goland is a 1980 graduate of Albany Law School and has been an Assistant Counsel for the New York State Police since 1994. Prior to working with the State Police, Ms. Goland worked in the New York State Senate Minority Counsel’s Office, as a staff attorney specializing in Crime and Corrections issues. Ms. Goland also worked twelve years with the Albany Office of Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, where she left as the Managing Attorney, and prior to that as a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York. Ms. Goland is a past president of the Capital District Women’s Bar Association and a recipient of their Distinguished Member Award.