Another Huge Loss in the Indigent Defense Community

Sad news as another giant from the indigent defense world has passed away.  Robert (Bob) Spangenberg, who spent a lifetime working to improve access to counsel for the poor in criminal and civil cases died late last month at age […]

Black and Blue

Much like many other people in our country, I went to bed angry last night. Angry about three days of violence. Angry about Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, and the five law enforcement officers who lost their lives over the past […]

Metropolis

When I was in college, I was a lazy English major spending long afternoons and too much student loan money eating bon bons and reading indulgent novels.  One of my classes on Shakespeare was taught by a woman who was […]

When Events Make Us Feel Helpless, We Must Remember We Are Anything But…

A post came across the Gideon’s Promise listserve from one of our trainers expressing outrage, and renewed commitment to fighting for justice, in the wake of the killing of Philando Castile in St. Paul, MN.  A day after the killing of […]

Access to Counsel, Economic Justice & Effective Municipal Defense

Note: This article was co-written by Rosalie Joy and Franklin Cruz. You can reach Rosalie, Director of the Municipal Court Public Defender’s Office in Atlanta, by clicking here or and Franklin by clicking his name in the byline. Rosalie is featured in the article photograph. […]

The Duty of a Public Defender

I read in the news that once again, first-year lawyers on Wall Street will make more money than I do. I am in my 41st year of practice. I head a government law office with a multimillion-dollar budget. My office is […]

How to Improve Your Public Defense Office

©2016 by the American Bar Association.  Reprinted with permission.  All rights reserved.  This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval […]

Man Freed After “Victim” Sent Threats to Herself

On May 27th, a man was freed after 80 days in jail when an investigation revealed his former girlfriend framed him for criminal threats using an anonymous messaging app, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced.  Andrew Domino, 25, was […]

When Will All of Us Be “Us” and Not “Them?”

It’s election time in our community.  Sadly, our community is broken into “us” and “them” and never is it more stated publically than during election season.  People, whether they are friends, colleagues, strangers comment on how “they” will vote.  The […]

Using Caseload Standards, Time Logs, and Other Tools to Get Public Defender Funding

Even in the best of economic circumstances, public defenders routinely find themselves at, or at least near, the end of the line when state and local governments hand out funding.  We shouldn’t be, but we are. It’s not even a red […]