ABA summit addresses key issues in public defense 60 years after Gideon

State and national experts from throughout the country will convene virtually on Thursday and Friday to explore current and emerging issues on public defense, including topics related to the effectiveness of the right to counsel 60 years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright.

The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense (SCLAID) will sponsor the  virtual 2023 Public Defense Summit on Thursday and Friday, April 13-14.

The online summit will focus on ensuring manageable workloads, protecting public defender independence and other challenges spotlighted the past few years by American Bar Association workload studies in a half dozen states. It comes six decades after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the Gideon case that the U.S. Constitution’s Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a right to assistance of counsel applies to criminal defendants in state court by way of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Rachel Rossi, director of the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Access to Justice, will open the summit on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. with welcoming remarks. Other programs will focus on use of empirical research to limit caseloads; indigent defender independence in federal court; remedial measures to ensure political independence; client perspectives on defender services; special challenges faced by rural defenders; and limitations and advantages of video conferencing.  Sessions will be held both Thursday and Friday afternoons.

For additional information or to register for the virtual summit, visit https://bit.ly/3MAdr8P.