OAKLAND, CA – California’s “first guidelines and toolkit for contract and panel public defender programs” was released by the Office of the California State Public Defender last month, announced the Wren Collective.
The purpose of these tools is to ensure universally consistent and high-quality legal representation in criminal courts for all California citizens, regardless of location in the state, according to Wren Collective.
The collective’s statement explained 24 of 58 counties in California rely exclusively on contract or panel systems to represent individuals charged with crimes, while almost all counties use contract or panel systems to handle conflict cases.
Californians have long experienced significant variation in the quality of legal representation and case outcomes they receive depending on their county of residence, stated Wren Collective, a nonprofit that works toward “replacing ineffective and often disingenuous solutions to crime and safety with solutions that support victims, keep people healthy and safe, and help everyone thrive and live with dignity.”
The new standards introduced by the Office of the California State Public Defender provide guidance to county leaders on topics such as “training, data, appropriate workload controls, compensation and attorney performance” in an effort to improve “public safety and client outcomes,” according Wren.
Galit Lipa, California’s State Public Defender, said, “This toolkit is designed to help ensure that all Californians, regardless of where they live, have access to effective court-appointed representation as guaranteed by the Constitution,” and asserted that “justice should not be dependent on geography.”
Sylvia Perez-MacDonald, director of Santa Clara’s Independent Defense Counsel Office. Perez-MacDonald, added, “California has high-quality contract and panel defenders throughout the state.”
Referring to the new standards, she said, “(they) provide a roadmap to ensure all counties are providing quality defense while promoting the effective use of public funds throughout California.”
Josh Branco, Deputy County Administrator from San Joaquin County, noted, “the implementation toolkit provides a step-by-step guide for county administrators to ensure that their criminal defense system is fair for all low-income residents in their county.”
Wren said these new panel/contract standards are the culmination of 18 months of collaborative research that “combined national best practices with input and practical insight from panel attorneys, contract defenders, and county leaders from across California.”
Such standards, added the Wren Collective, are employed by many other states, including Montana, Arkansas, Utah, Idaho, North Carolina, and South Carolina, noting adoption of these standards brings California in line with these states while protecting the independence of county-level decision making.
A summary of the 10 main standards can be found here:
https://www.ospd.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CA-Standards_ContractPanelDefense.pdf
