Balancing the System

The Defenders Services program has grown in size and caseload. 

In 1973, 15 of the nation’s 94 federal judicial districts were served by full-time defender offices. By FY 2013, that had grown to 91 districts. The system handled 54,000 representations in 1973, and nearly 230,000 representations in 2013. There are now about 1,300 full-time defenders, and about 12,000 panel attorneys, court-appointed private lawyers who handle cases for an hourly fee. 

The clients are diverse. In addition to infamous defendants, such as convicted bombers Ted Kaczynski and Timothy McVeigh, defenders say clients range from white-collar defendants charged with regulatory crimes to defendants barely equipped to understand their legal predicament.

The criminal charges are similarly diverse, including tax code violations, firearms offenses, bank robbery, racketeering, fraud, environmental crimes, child pornography, drug crimes, computer-based offenses, immigration offenses, major crimes committed on federal land and Indian reservations, and federal capital offenses, including terrorism.

Defenders say that, no matter who the defendant or what the crime, they serve the public by keeping the system balanced and holding the government to its burden of proof.

“We show the public that it’s a fair system. The average Joe can think, ‘If I get in trouble, I want this system,’ ” said Tom Hillier, who retired this year as Federal Defender after 38 years in the Western District of Washington. In situations where defenders believe constitutional rights are at risk, “we push back.”

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“You can have all the commitment to social justice, but if you don’t enjoy a fight, if you can’t take a punch, you won’t last.”

In interviews, federal defenders and panel attorneys say they are deeply passionate about their work—one called it “almost a compulsion.”

Reuben Cahn, executive director of Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc., the community defender office for the Southern District of California, said defenders must stay resilient in the face of overwhelming odds. “You can have all the commitment to social justice, but if you don’t enjoy a fight, if you can’t take a punch, you won’t last.”

Even when a guilty verdict is likely, defenders said it is essential to see clients as humans, not as stereotypes.

Katherian Roe, Federal Defender for the District of Minnesota, said her partial Native American heritage led her to want to defend clients from Indian reservations, and to make her staff ethnically diverse and able to win defendants’ trust. In hiring lawyers, “I focus most on the ability to communicate effectively-not just with judges and lawyers, but with average people.”

Defenders and their investigators also must look for critical extenuating circumstances that might reduce prison time, or even win outright freedom.

Early in her career, Cait Clarke, now Chief of the Defender Services Office at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, represented a young person facing more than a decade of prison for allegedly selling drugs. On investigation, Clarke learned her client had a very low IQ, and that others were bribing him with lollipops to store drugs and money in his pockets.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute, and appropriate treatment programs were found. “Helping a client in and out of court while holding the government to its burden of proof was a great feeling for a defense advocate,” recalled Clarke.

Learn more and read the rest Balancing the Power.

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