SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A key court program representative warned Thursday that San Francisco’s rapidly escalating public defense crisis was avoidable and stemmed in part from a breakdown in collaboration between the Public Defender’s Office and the Conflicts Panel.
Julie Traun, director of court programs, addressed Judge Harry Dorfman again on behalf of the Conflicts Panel regarding the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office declaring its unavailability to take on many new cases. She emphasized that the panel is already at capacity and said the current crisis might have been prevented if the Public Defender’s Office had worked with her team earlier in the year. Previous Vanguard coverage addressing these hearings can be found here.
Traun reminded the court that the Public Defender’s Office first declared unavailability in May of this year. “From May to October, there was no constitutional crisis, but in October, cases quadrupled.”
She explained that although efforts were made to hire new attorneys, the volume remains unmanageable. “This is not a problem that we can solve,” she told the court, urging judicial intervention. She noted that if the court could order the panel to take cases, it should also be able to do the same for the Public Defender’s Office.
Judge Dorfman acknowledged the distinction between the two entities, noting that the Public Defender’s Office is led by an elected public official, governed by a city charter, and organized differently than the panel’s private attorneys.
Traun also challenged the Public Defender’s position that the court could not compel the office to accept additional cases, while still assigning cases to panel attorneys. She argued the situation was mishandled, saying the office “failed to engage in the process correctly, too many cases have gone to the private bar.”
She added that the shift has strained what is supposed to be a collaborative system. “Public defenders are our partners, but it hasn’t felt like that as of late,” she said. She added that “going forward, there needs to be greater inquiry” from the courts into the process.
Traun contrasted the current situation with the approach used by former Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who she said communicated proactively when declaring unavailability in response to budget cuts, notifying courts and the panel ahead of time about expected needs and limitations. She described the current timeline as the opposite: “no collaboration, no warning, just sudden declarations.”
Judge Dorfman said he believed all parties remain in good faith, pointing to the consistent presence of representatives from the Public Defender’s Office, District Attorney, Sheriff’s Office and Conflicts Panel at each hearing as a promising sign.
Traun reiterated that the crisis could have been mitigated with earlier coordination. She said the declaration came without time to prepare, adding, “We cannot turn on a dime, can’t take on an influx of cases in a big event.” She emphasized, “This is something we should have been doing together.”
Ultimately, Traun said the shared goal remains unchanged: “We’re all here to administer justice and get people the lawyers they need.”“The fact that panel attorneys are reporting that they’re overloaded speaks volumes about what public defenders are facing here and in other jurisdictions across the country,” said Hadi Razzaq, Assistant Chief Attorney and head of Training and Operations at the SF Public Defender’s Office.
He added, “We’ve maintained open and frequent communication with the BASF panel. In May, our office began declaring unavailability in certain cases. Under our ethical obligations, we must prioritize providing effective and competent representation to our current clients before taking on new ones. Despite this, we’ve continued to accept the majority of misdemeanor and felony appointments. Both our office and the panel are bearing the weight of an escalating workload crisis.”
The hearings are scheduled to continue as additional representatives from the Public Defender’s Office and District Attorney prepare to speak.
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