Washington Supreme Court adopts new standards for lawyers providing indigent defense
June 15, 2012
Olympia, Washington: Today, the Washington State Supreme Court announced its adoption of new standards that will limit the number of cases that can be taken on by lawyers who represent indigent defendants.[1]
Under the new standards, lawyers for the indigent "generally should handle no more than 150 felony cases . . . or 300 to 400 misdemeanor cases" per year. If the cases are particularly complex, lawyers will be limited to even fewer cases. The standards' goal is to improve the quality of representation provided to poor defendants, 200,000 of whom are prosecuted in the state each year. According to the director of Washington's Office of Public Defense, Joanne Moore, "[i]nnocent people are convicted if they don't have an adequate defense," and "many attorneys who are providing public defense are burdened by very high caseloads, and they haven't been able to give the proper amount of attention to their public defense cases." This is a significant problem because it can infringe on a criminal defendant's constitutional right to legal counsel.[1]
The high court voted 7-2 in favor of adopting these standards, which represent the first time that caseload limits by type have ever been introduced in Washington. According to the Court's press release, the caseload limitation section of the Standards for Indigent Defense Services will take effect on September 1, 2013.[2]
In the past, the state bar association attempted to impose standards for those providing indigent defense, but they were infrequently enforced. It is expected that since the standards have been adopted by the Supreme Court, they will have more effect, and lawyers will have to certify their compliance with the standards each quarter. It is also expected that the implementation of these caseload limits could have a significant financial impact on local governments.[1]
See also
Footnotes
| |||||
