8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

WELCOMING REMARKS
Introduction: Jean M. Faria, Assistant Federal Defender, Federal Public Defenders Office, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana; Member of SCLAID and Chair of the SCLAID Indigent Defense Advisory Group (IDAG).
Deborah G. Hankinson, Chair of ABA SCLAID and Former Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court.

WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS:  ENGAGING IN CRITICAL SYSTEMIC REFORM
This session begins with Herman Atkins’ story. Herman was wrongly convicted of a rape and exonerated after serving 11.5 years.  Panelists will focus on systemic issues that impact the ability of defenders (institutional and private) to provide competent representation and that, as a result, contribute to wrongful convictions, including: caseload pressures, lack of training, lack of investigators, experts and other resources, low fees, flat fee contracts, and absence of meaningful eligibility standards for appointment to assigned counsel panels, lack of parity with the prosecutorial agencies; absence of supervision, and inadequate access to information through pre-trial discovery. Panelists will discuss strategies for reform.

Moderator:  Adele Bernhard, Professor and Supervisor of Criminal Justice Clinics at Pace University Law and Member of SCLAID.
Herman Atkins, West Coast Coordinator, Innocence Project, and Wrongly Convicted and Exonerated in 2000 after serving 11.5 years on a wrongful conviction.
Senator Rodney Ellis, Texas State Senator and Innocence Project Board Chair.
Peter Neufeld, Co-director and co-founder of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
John Terzano, President, The Justice Project.
Gerald F. Uelmen, Executive Director, California Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice; and Professor, Santa Clara University School of Law.

11:00   BREAK  

THE IMPACT OF THE MEDIA ON REFORM EFFORTS & ENLISTING THE MEDIA IN EFFORTS IN YOUR STATE


This program will feature legal affairs journalists and media strategists whose work has significantly contributed to criminal justice reform, specifically in the indigent defense arena.  Panelists will discuss their individual efforts in bringing these issues to the forefront of public concern and will offer insights on how the defender community and bar leadership can utilize the press in promoting positive reform.

Moderator:  Judge Juanita Bing Newton, New York City Courts and Deputy Chief Administrative Judge, Office of Justice Initiatives and Member of SCLAID.
Henry E. Weinstein, Attorney and Pulitzer prize-winning legal affairs writer, Los Angeles Times; Champion of Justice (NACDL) award recipient.
Joe Domanick, Award-winning investigative journalist and author, Senior Fellow in Criminal Justice at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism; and Senior Fellow at the Center on the Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY.

12:00 - 1:15    LUNCH    Location:  Green Circle Terrace Lawn, Lobby Level (Free for registrants)

CASE OVERLOAD: ETHICAL & POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND, WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, SHUTDOWNS, LITIGATION AND CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS.

Panelists will present the various caseload control mechanisms they employ in their programs, explaining how they obtained the controls, how they work, and the benefits and pitfalls to having them.  Also, this session will address the role that the Bar can play in supporting defenders and assigned counsel as they confront the ethical dilemmas and political crises that result from excessive caseloads and defenders' efforts to cope with them.  Some defenders and assigned counsel are expected to represent 1000 clients a year, far in excess of recommended national guidelines and beyond what most private practitioners would ever contemplate.  These questions also engage issues addressed by both the ABA Ten Principles and the ABA Ethical Opinion issued in 2006 on excessive caseloads.  This discussion will cover the California "declarations of unavailability"; the motions to withdraw that recently were granted in Mohave County, Arizona; Michigan’s statutory mandate to match intake to its appropriation; Maryland’s successful efforts to obtain additional funding; King County, Washington’s contractual provisions that tie revenue to caseload; and both systemic litigation and disciplinary rulings related to defenders.  It will explore ways that the organized bar can participate in improving the effective assistance of counsel for persons facing loss of liberty and provide an opportunity for participants to brainstorm issues in their own jurisdictions.

Moderator:  Robert Boruchowitz, Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law; and former Public Defender, Seattle-King County Defender Association, Washington.
Nancy S. Forster, Public Defender, Maryland.
Dana Hlavac, Public Defender, Mohave County, Arizona.
Michael P. Judge, Chief Public Defender, Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office.
James R. Neuhard, Appellate Defender, Michigan State Appellate Defender Office.

2:45  BREAK

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN REVIEW & LESSONS LEARNED
This program will feature panelists reporting on significant developments in jurisdictions including, Nevada, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Montana, Michigan, and New York.  Presenters will discuss successful reforms that have been achieved, identify catalysts for reform, successful lobbying efforts with state legislators, establishing coalitions between state and local bars and the defender community, and increasing public outreach and media involvement.  Also, presenters will discusschallengesfaced in efforts to bring about systemic reform. 

Moderator:  Norman Lefstein, Professor & Dean Emeritus, Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis.
Patton Adams, Executive Director, South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense.
James D. Bethke, Executive Director, Texas Indigent Defense Task Force.
Michael Sherwood, Commissioner, Montana Public Defender Commission.
Robert Spangenberg, President, The Spangenberg Group.
Dawn Van Hoek, Chief Deputy, Michigan State Appellate Defender Office.

Note:  There will be no break between these sessions.

FACILITATED OPEN DISCUSSION: YOUR PROBLEMS & CONCERNS ADDRESSED
During this caucus, attendees will have the opportunity to pose their questions to a panel of experts and to their colleagues in the audience.  Attendees will have a chance to ask follow-up questions on topics raised throughout the day’s programming.  Also, program participants will have the opportunity to bring up new issues of concern for the entire group to engage in a dialogue.  To insure that as many questions as possible are addressed, we will be collecting your written questions at the registration desk by 3:45 p.m.   

Discussion Facilitator:  Jean M. Faria, Assistant Federal Defender, Federal Public Defenders Office, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana; Member of SCLAID and Chair of the SCLAID Indigent Defense Advisory Group.

Please submit your written questions by 3:45 at the registration desk.