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The Rhode Island Public Defender’s Office disposed of over 19,000 cases last year. On average, each attorney in the office handles 1,600 cases a year – about four times the nationally recommended amount. How do they handle these extraordinary case loads? And how does it affect the quality of service they provide to their clients?

Stan Sundel reports.

“The last time I counted, I had 200 cases at any given time.”

That’s Maggie Manson, an attorney in the Rhode Island Public Defender’s office. As a public defender, she serves the needs of hundreds of Rhode Islanders who cannot afford to hire an attorney. But like many public defenders, she’s forced to confront one of the stark realities of her job: crushing case loads.

“Maggie is handling on average – any of our district court lawyers are handling on average of 1,600 cases a year.”

That’s John Hardiman, the attorney who oversees the Rhode Island Public Defender’s office. He says public defenders like Manson in his office are handling far more cases than they should.

“The guidelines by the legal aid association say that no district court lawyer should handle more than 400 cases per year. Her caseload is way above national standards.”

High case loads means that clients get less time to speak with Manson. Because she handles 18-34 cases in a given day, clients often have to compete with one another to get access to their court appointed attorney.
Sometimes people will just swarm me – I’ll have 12 people literally all around me trying to talk to me and I’m just like “woah.” And I’m like, how can I talk to you all at once? I can’t.

Not surprisingly, her clients are often frustrated. But Manson reassures them that she’s trying her hardest.
Sometimes I need to explain to people – listen, I have 30 of you today. I’m doing the best I can, I can only speak to one person at a time.

Manson is one of the newest hires in the Rhode Island Public Defender’s office, beginning work there this past January. And yet, even though she’s only had the job for less than year, she’s already discovered some of the necessary tricks of the trade – those essential tips that prevent public defenders from drowning in the enormous number of cases they must handle.

Manson says that there are patterns to her cases that make her job easier than it would first appear. Generally, the cases fall into one of a handful of basic types. The similarity of cases that fall under these basic types allows her to process them quickly and efficiently.
With domestics – 99% of them proceed that way.

“So if I have 7 domestics on tomorrow – and even if I’ve never talked to any of the people – I already have a game plan for those cases.”

Manson prides herself on providing quality representation to each of her clients – and she works extraordinarily hard to achieve that goal. Like many public defenders in the Rhode Island office, she works much more than the standard 40 hour work week; working nights and weekends is not uncommon. And yet, as hard as they work, John Hardiman realizes that the high volume of cases means that the clients of public defenders inevitably get shortchanged.

“The sheer numbers alone. You know there’s something missing. There has to be. As hard as all of don’t want to admit it because we work so hard and care so much but we all know that if we had less cases we’d be doing a better job.”

The problem, says Hardiman, is a lack of staffing. Like many of their counterparts in other states, the Rhode Public Defenders office struggles to secure adequate funding.

“We don’t really have a great political venue. We represent people who are accused of crimes. And when we go to the legislature and ask for money, they don’t always see us as the same priority as the other state departments.”

The Rhode Island Public Defender’s office has a budget of approximately 9.5 million dollars for the current year. This budget funds 47 attorneys and their support staff.

Hardiman estimates that the office would need twice as many attorneys to meet national standards. But as someone who has consistently agitated for more funding, he knows that this is unlikely to happen any time soon.

“We don’t expect to get them, but anything we can get would be an improvement.”

The BRU Brief airs weekly on 95.5 FM, recapping the week’s top local, national, and international stories, and taking a closer look at the issues of the day in Southern New England. Tune in on Monday nights at 11:00, or stream live at news.wbru.com.