News Archive

The right of the poor who face criminal charges in state courts to have a court-appointed attorney was not always guaranteed. And while the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided in the 1963 decision, Gideon v. Wainwright, that indigent defendants must have state-funded counsel, access to public defenders remains deficient over 50 years later.

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law commemorated the Indiana Law Review’s 50^th anniversary with a symposium on April 7 that examined “Implementing Gideon’s Promise: The Right to Counsel in the Nation and Indiana.” The event took place in the Wynne Courtroom at Inlow Hall.

“The serious deficiencies in public defense for the indigent in Indiana’s criminal and juvenile courts were recently documented in a lengthy report. This symposium – the first of its kind hosted by the law school – focused on both the problems and possible solutions in Indiana while also discussing public defense representation throughout the United States,” said IU McKinney Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus Norman Lefstein. He was an organizer of the event and his remarks, “Will We Ever Succeed in Fulfilling Gideon’s Promise,” kicked-off the day-long program. (In the photo at left, Dean Emeritus Lefstein is delivering his remarks at the event.)

Dean Emeritus Lefstein is a nationally-recognized authority in the areas of indigent defense, criminal justice, and professional responsibility. He received the Robert O. Dawson Indigent Defense Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission in Summer 2016.

The Sixth Amendment Center released a report in October 2016 on Indiana’s indigent defense that found the state’s public defender system is underfunded and that the right to a fair and speedy trial is routinely violated. Indiana counties can forgo state funding for public defense and avoid state oversight of how the indigent fare in the justice system, the study finds.

Speakers at the program featured experts on Indiana’s public defense system, as well as prominent national experts from across the country.

Professor Joel Schumm, ’98, served as moderator on a panel that discussed the topic, “Reforming Indiana’s Public Defense System.” Panelists were Clark Circuit Court Judge Vicki Carmichael; Michael Dvorak, who is a former prosecutor and state representative from South Bend, Indiana; Monica Foster, ’83, Chief Federal Defender of the Indiana Federal Community Defenders; Marce Gonzalez, Jr., Lake County Chief Public Defender; Larry Landis, ’73, Executive Director of the Indiana Public Defender Council; and Lorinda Youngcourt, ’88, Director of the King County Department of Public Defense in Seattle, Washington.

The program’s second panel considered “Litigation in Reforming Public Defense.” Panelists were Stephen Hanlon, general counsel of the National Association for Public Defense, who spoke on “The New Breed of Defender Workload Studies;” Alec Karakatsanis, founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, who spoke on “Bail Reform Litigation;” and Professor Lauren Sudeall Lucas of Georgia State University College of Law, who addressed “Public Defense Litigation: The Big Picture.” Moderator for this discussion was Linda Youngcourt.

The final panel of the day addressed the topic, “Innovation and Reform in Public Defense,” and was moderated by Dean Emeritus Lefstein. Panelists were James Bethke, executive director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, who spoke on “Public Defense Innovation in Texas;” William J. Leahy, director of the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Defense, who discussed “Reforming Public Defense in New York State;” and Professor Janet Moore of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, who talked about “Client Choice in Public Defense: Do Defendants Have a Right to Choose Their Own Lawyer?”

The keynote speaker Professor Jonathan Rapping, was unable to attend the program due to weather-related airline flight delays. Rapping is the founder and president of Gideon’s Promise in Atlanta, Georgia, and is a professor of Law at John Marshall Law School, and was a visiting professor during Winter 2017 at Harvard Law School.

In the photo at left are some of the panelists, speakers, and organizers of the event. From left are Michael Dvorak, James Bethke, Larry Landis, Marce Gonzalez, Professor Lauren Sudeall Lucas, Professor Janet Moore, Dean Emeritus Norm Lefstein, Judge Vicki Charmichael, Professor Joel Schumm, Lorinda Youngcourt, Professor Stephen F. Hanlon, William J. Leahy, Indiana Law Review Symposium Editor Christina L. Fisher, and Indiana Law Review Editor-in-Chief Tabatha Halleck Chapman.