William (Bill) Gibney, is the Director of The Legal Aid Society Criminal Practice Special Litigation Unit. In that capacity he has conducted class action litigation against the City and the State regarding sentencing and jail time credit for mentally ill prisoners.    

He teaches sentencing law to attorneys at Legal Aid and has taught CLE classes in sentencing as a part of the First Department Office of Court Administration (OCA) training program. As an attorney with Legal Aid, he participated in class action litigation regarding conditions in the New York City pre-arraignment holding cells and the release of protesters during the Republican National Convention. He was part of a group that lobbied for the 2004 and 2005 drug law reforms.

Until 1998, Mr. Gibney managed the New York City office of Prisoners’ Legal Services.  He participated in litigation regarding HIV infected prisoners, mentally ill prisoners in disciplinary isolation, prison disciplinary issues, and guard brutality. He was a primary advocate for the passage of medical parole law and worked on a film, “Let Me Say Goodbye” regarding the need for medical parole in New York. While at Prisoners Legal Services, one of his first legislative advocacy projects concerned Governor Cuomo’s Sentencing Commission. He is a graduate of the Dickinson School of Law and a recipient of a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship.