... Two major initiatives in criminal justice are now at the forefront of legal, academic, and policy--making debates. ... Three dimensions in particular are worth further exploration: 1) "whole client" epresentation or holistic advocacy, 2) defender collaboration with other criminal justice stakeholders (e.g., building coalitions or lobbying to change laws and improve programming), and 3) community outreach or community service activities. ... For purposes of clarity, whole--client representation (i.e., problem--solving lawyering), defender collaboration with criminal justice stakeholders, and community--oriented defense initiatives will be discussed separately in the remaining sections even though many defender offices blend these activities. ... In addition to providing a vigorous client defense of the charges, community defenders focus ideally on root problems that manifest themselves in offender behavior. ... Harvard's CJI social worker, Cathy Neidich, says that at first she was concerned that the lawyers and law students would not value a professional perspective quite different from their own. ...