The Washington Supreme Court is considering controversial changes to public defense that would cut attorney caseloads by about two-thirds and necessitate huge increases in funding and staffing. Proponents of the lowered case limits, beefed-up support staffing and tweaked qualifications for public defenders say the changes are badly needed to address a crisis of attorneys leaving the profession and problems recruiting replacements. Excessive workloads and low pay are to blame, they say, and without revisions more people will go unrepresented and have their rights violated.
Critics in Pierce County contend that the crisis is not felt here, and making the proposals a reality would bring its own disastrous consequences. Requiring public defense attorneys to take on fewer cases would mean far more attorneys would need to be hired to represent thousands of people who can't afford a lawyer. An initial estimate from Pierce County government is that about 124 more attorneys would be needed in the Department of Assigned Counsel by July 2028.
Accomplishing that kind of hiring blitz would be "extremely challenging," according to the director of the Department of Assigned Counsel, Michael Kawamura. Mary Robnett, the county's elected prosecutor, says there simply aren't enough lawyers to make it happen. The overall effect, Robnett said in an interview with The News Tribune, is that two-thirds of the cases filed by the Prosecuting Attorney's Office won't have public defense attorneys availa.