Oregon is losing public defenders. How much money will bring them back?

A woman with long, dark blond hair wears a hot pink blazer over a flower-patterned dress. She looks down at some papers on a table in a courtroom.

Public defender Amanda Alvarez Thibeault, pictured here in Washington County Circuit Court, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that for many years those in her profession have "believed you're not a public defender unless you're miserable. And that thinking is just wrong." Uncompetitive pay, high caseloads and representing many clients with enormous needs has led many public defenders to leave for other jobs. (Dave Killen / The Oregonian)Dave Killen / The Oregonian

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A decade after graduating near the top of her class at Lewis & Clark Law School and starting a career as a public defender in Hillsboro, Amanda Alvarez Thibeault is overcome with financial worry.

She hasn’t been able to pay down any of the principal from her law school loans, which have swelled with interest to $240,000. She and her husband haven’t put any money into a college savings account for their elementary-school-aged daughter. And Thibeault says her retirement account is so insignificant that it would only cover a few months of living expenses in her golden years.

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