Training Director, Criminal Defense Training Unit

CPCS is seeking applications for Training Director of the Criminal Defense Training Unit. The Criminal Defense Training Unit is part of the CPCS Training Department which provides high quality training to all staff and private assigned counsel.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION MISSION STATEMENT

CPCS is committed to protecting the fundamental constitutional and human rights of its clients by providing zealous advocacy, community-oriented defense, and excellent representation. In fulfilling its mission, CPCS is committed to fostering diversity at all levels of the agency. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients, to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. In striving always to achieve those goals, CPCS embraces diversity and inclusion as core values and is steadfast in our commitment to: (1) ensuring that CPCS management and staff members represent a broad range of human difference and experience; (2) providing a work climate that is respectful and that supports success; and (3) promoting the dignity and well-being of all staff members. CPCS's leadership is responsible for ensuring excellence, diversity, and inclusion. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us.

Position Overview

The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is the state agency in Massachusetts responsible for providing legal services to indigent persons in criminal and civil matters in which the law requires the appointment of counsel for any person who cannot afford to retain counsel. The agency provides representation in criminal, delinquency, youth offender, child welfare, mental health, sexually dangerous person and sex offender registry cases, as well as appeals and post-conviction cases related to those matters. CPCS is an equal opportunity employer.

The CPCS Training Department provides high quality training to all staff and private assigned counsel. The Training Department, led by the Training Chief, includes four practice area Training Units - Criminal Defense, Children and Family Law, Youth Advocacy and Mental Health Litigation – all of which are overseen by individual Training Directors. CPCS enjoys a well-deserved national reputation for its skills based training. In addition to providing substantive and skills training to attorneys, the Training Department ensures that all other professional staff members are provided appropriate training in their areas of expertise. The Training Department also plays a significant role in the provision of diversity, management, supervision, employment law, and other training to staff and private assigned counsel.

The Criminal Defense Training Unit works closely with both the Public Defender Division and the Private Counsel Division. The Public Defender Division delivers legal services to adults charged with crimes and following conviction, through fully-resourced staff offices located throughout Massachusetts. The Public Defender Division is dedicated to providing zealous advocacy, community oriented defense, and protecting fundamental constitutional and human rights. Public Defender Division attorneys represent clients at the trial and appellate levels in district, superior, and appellate courts at the state level. The Public Defender Division also provides zealous representation to people unable to afford counsel, who are facing civil commitment as a sexually dangerous person. The Private Counsel Division delivers legal services to indigent clients through assigned private attorneys in criminal defense trial and post-conviction cases as well as in civil commitment and registration trials and appeals for persons convicted of sex offenses. To ensure the delivery of high quality legal services, the Private Counsel Division supervises, trains, advises, and supports private attorneys in these areas as well as provides expertise in trial skills, post-convictions matters, immigration law, forensic evidence, expert witnesses, community resources, and sex offender civil commitment and registration.

Responsibilities

The Criminal Defense Training Unit Director is responsible for planning, directing, managing, and overseeing the training of public and private criminal defenders around the state, and for ensuring that the Criminal Defense Training Unit meets the training goals developed in conjunction with the Training Chief, the Deputy Chief Counsel of the Public Defender, and the Deputy Chief Counsel of the Private Counsel Division. The Training Director is also responsible for the production and distribution of training materials and practice guides, and provides advice on court practice, legal strategies, and, occasionally, on individual cases.

Specific duties of the position are to:
• Design, implement, and evaluate training programs for staff attorneys and private panel attorneys
• Present lectures, facilitate large and small group discussions, provide coaching and feedback at skills exercises and
mock hearings
• Supervise members of the CDTU, including promoting the professional development of staff and completing annual
staff performance evaluations in a timely and comprehensive manner
• Research, prepare, and publish training materials, legal outlines, practice guides and advisories
• Prepare the CDTU annual training plan and manage the CDTU training budget
• Oversee CDTU email listservs webpages and electronic research sites
• As a member of the Training Department, collaborate with others to plan and implement cross divisional and agency-
wide training programs, including the CPCS Annual Conference
• Provide advice to Trial Attorneys and bar advocates on individual cases
• Other duties as assigned