Commends a public defender program or defense delivery system for outstanding achievement in the provision of indigent defense services. The achievement may be the result of an effort by the entire program, a division or branch or a special project. This award is co-sponsored by NLADA and the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants. Established in 1985, this award was named for the founder of the nation's public defender system. Foltz, California's first woman lawyer, introduced the "Foltz Defender Bill" at the Congress of Jurisprudence and Law Reform in Chicago in 1893.
Clara Shortridge Foltz winners listing
Each year, thousands of men, women, and children come into the criminal justice system; almost 85 percent of them are appointed a public defender, too poor to afford an attorney. The Orleans Public Defenders Office provides client-centered, community-oriented representation in criminal, juvenile, municipal, or traffic court, protecting the guarantees of the Constitution and working for a more open and inclusive, fair, and just criminal justice system.
Created in the wake of a complete criminal justice system failure following Hurricane Katrina, OPD has become the benchmark for public defense in Louisiana. OPD represents nearly 20,000 people each year; has made significant advances in juvenile mitigation, bond advocacy, and mental health representation; and laid the groundwork to reduce recidivism with diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs. Recognized as the 2009 Southern Center for Human Rights Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award, OPD fights to make a difference in our clients’ lives in the courtroom and beyond.
The Bronx Defenders provides innovative, holistic, and client-centered criminal defense, family defense, civil legal services, social work support and advocacy to indigent people of the Bronx. Today, a staff of nearly 200 represents 30,000 individuals each year and reaches hundreds more through outreach programs and community legal education. In the Bronx and beyond, it promotes justice in low-income communities by keeping families together.
The Bronx Defenders looks beyond individual cases to challenge entrenched problems that drive individuals into the justice system through community education, leadership development, impact litigation, and legislative reform. It operates on multiple levels: as a provider of Holistic Defense working one-on-one with clients and families; as a community resource; and as a force for systemic change advocating with policymakers. It seeks partnerships with community-based providers and leverages their expertise to ensure that its clients’ expressed needs are addressed.
The Michigan State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) is led by Director James R. Neuhard. SADO is recognized for several landmark accomplishments related to the development and automation of a case weighting system that, under the control of the Appellate Defender Commission, automatically controls intake to the office. This development has allowed the office to meet and exceed the ABA’s Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System.
In the spring of 2008, in response to the closing of the Detroit Crime Lab due to rampant testing errors in firearms cases and certification errors, SADO recruited law students to review pending cases, contact clients and select a group of cases to send for retesting. As a result, negotiations with the chief prosecutor and her staff were opened and an agreement reached that assured that tens of thousands of cases would be reviewed and retested by the State Police Crime Lab with no questions asked. Don Martin, chair of the Appellate Defender Commission, in his nomination letter wrote that while the “effort to review and retest the cases would take years to complete, it has already resulted in a new trial for one client with the results supporting the client’s version of events.”
Additionally, SADO has been recognized as being at the forefront of automation for many years. The Criminal Defense Resource Center is one such example, whereby case summaries, briefs, sentencing manuals and a slew of other resources are captured in a comprehensive legal site under SADO’s Web site, allowing access to support for thousands of attorneys with limited resources. And, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Corrections, SADO uses the medical parole video link network of the Department. This allows for confidential high quality video visits to all the prisons in the state, some as far as a day’s drive away in the Western reaches of the Upper Peninsula. In addition, translators, researcher experts and investigators can use this service that otherwise would be costly or impractical.
Marilyn Kelly, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, writes of SADO: “[But] it is not just the ‘big’ cases that distinguish their office. SADO attorneys are committed to ensuring that all their clients receive the best SADO has to offer. Their plea and sentencing unit has achieved a remarkable level of success in handling mostly sentencing appeals, so much so that the aggregate savings they have achieved runs to millions of dollars each year.
“SADO has been equally committed to improving the criminal defense bar. Jim Neuhard of SADO was the primary drafter of the ABA’s Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System,” writes Dennis Archer, former mayor of Detroit and partner at Dickson Wright law firm. “He has fought to keep their office compliant with those principles. SADO has unselfishly and tirelessly sought increased fees for the private bar and has been deeply involved in the efforts to improve the entire system of criminal defense in Michigan… SADO has been at the heart of the reform effort.”
For their tireless dedication and outstanding achievements in the struggle to ensure justice for all, we honor Michigan State Appellate Defender Office.
The 2007 recipient of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Award is the Public Defender’s Office of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida (PD-11). The Clara Shortridge Foltz Award commends a public defender program or defense delivery system for outstanding achievement in the provision of indigent defense services. The achievement may be the result of an effort by the entire program, a division or branch or a special project. This award was named for the founder of the nation's public defender system. Foltz, California's first woman lawyer, introduced the "Foltz Defender Bill" at the Congress of Jurisprudence and Law Reform in Chicago in 1893.
Despite inadequate funding and limited resources, PD-11 is widely known for its exceptional work on behalf of indigent clients, extensive community involvement and proactive legal reform efforts. Through the years, PD-11 has faced tremendous budgetary challenges, won major legal battles, and developed a world-class public defender office in the process. Led by Bennett H. Brummer, who has been the public defender since 1977, PD-11 it is the largest indigent defense law firm in Florida.
Brummer’s leadership in providing quality defense to indigent clients is best exemplified by his determination in 1989 to force the government to address excessive caseloads that had resulted from years of inadequate funding for Florida’s public defender offices. In the face of overwhelmingly negative publicity, he took the politically unpopular position of withdrawing from thousands of cases until local officials finally agreed to fund additional public defender attorneys.
“Our public defender’s office is known throughout our community as an exemplary defender office,” said Teresa Descilo, executive director for The Trauma Resolution Center. “They are true advocates for humanity. It seems most fitting that your national organization recognize the work done by Bennett H. Brummer and his staff.”