TRI-CITIES, Wash. - Counties across Washington will have three years to meet new caseload standards set by the state bar if the standards get accepted by the State Supreme Court.
Benton County Prosecutor Eric Eisinger has said the reduction in cases by a third could break the system.
Jason Schwarz, Chair of the Washington State Bar’s Council on Public Defense disagrees. In fact, he said without this kind of systematic change the system would crumble on its own,
“We have public defenders leaving because they can't keep up,” Schwarz said. “They just can't keep up. They feel like they can't do the work, they can't commit to their clients in the way they need to, they can't meet their ethical standards. And so we had to provide some, I think some assistance in the form of caseload standards to meet that.”
He also said the public defense role is often seen as the “redheaded stepchild" of the attorney world. It’s a role he said doesn’t get a lot of funding or political attention.
Without a focus on work-life balance, up-and-coming lawyers have been deciding not to pursue the career.
“I mean, that's embarrassingly something that public defenders have never sat around and asked ourselves about, and probably because we didn't have the luxury to do so,” he said.
As a former public defender, Schwarz said he noticed the difference having enough time makes in someone’s life.
For example, former public defense client Allen Knoll said Schwarz helped change his life.
“Having proper representation gave me a feel of like, ok, I'm not just a number, I'm not just getting steamrolled now,” Knoll said.
Knoll said it also helps defendants when they feel confident the defense attorney is advocating for the best possible outcome.
“Sometimes these people just want to be heard, because they're not gonna tell them the facts of the case and help them with defense if they don't trust them.”
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