By David Carroll, Director of Research, National Legal Aid & Defender Association
The Star Tribune reports that line public defenders in 11 Minnesota counties have filed a labor grievance over excessive workload. The grievance sites a February 2010 Legislative Auditor's report that states that the average Minnesota public defender casel
oad in 2009 was 779 cases, or nearly twice the national caseload standard for misdemeanor cases only. The National Advisory Commission (NAC) on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals first developed numerical caseload limits in 1973 under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice that state a public defender attorney should not exceed more than 400 misdemeanor cases in a single year if that is the only type of case she handles. The American Bar Association's Ten Principles instruct that caseloads should "under no circumstances exceed" these numerical limits.
One problem cited in the Legislative Auditor's report is that excessive caseloads are limiting supervisors' abilities to properly monitor and coach assistant public defenders as supervisors themselves are carrying too many cases. Forty-three percent of public defenders surveyed by the Auditor's Office responded that "their supervisors in the past year had not reviewed any of their cases in the context of assessing performance." The actions of the line attorneys filing a grievance reflect the recommendations of the ABA Ethics Opinion that states, "[i]f the supervisor fails to provide appropriate assistance or relief, the lawyer should continue to advance up the chain of command" until relief is addressed.
Structurally, Minnesota is one of a handful of states that more readily meets Gideon's promise. A statewide, independent Board of Public Defense oversees representation of accused people of insufficient means in each of Minnesota's 87 counties.
Across the country, public defender offices are underfunded and understaffed, drowning in overwhelming caseloads. Public defenders are dedicated lawyers trying their best to represent their clients in often-impossible circumstances. Even worse, in many areas around the country, there are no public defender systems at all, resulting in a haphazard system of appointing lawyers who may be unprepared, without sufficient resources, and have no relevant experience.
Public defender offices handled 352 cases per attorney in 2007, according to a new