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During this reporting period, NLADA worked with BJA to identify training topics for the Fall 2018 training, which will be hosted in October 2018 at the NLADA Annual Conference in Houston, TX.
For these trainings, we will live stream the trainings and produce recordings for the online platform. This approach allows us to reach a broader audience and re-cycle the content for users to access on their own terms. The following two trainings will be conducted at the NLADA Annual Conference:
Leadership Training: How to Make the Case for Public Defense Resources
This panel will discuss how chief public defenders and court administrators can effectively advocate for resources to support the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel. The session will focus on the leadership and advocacy skills needed to “make the case” to funders and other key criminal justice stakeholders. We will train defender leaders on how to engage policy makers regarding the important role of the sixth amendment and the system-wide benefits of effective public defenders.
The proposed panel will include:
• Keir Bradford-Grey, Chief, Philadelphia Defender Association
• Kevin Tully, Chief Defender, Mecklenburg County Public Defender
• Derwyn Bunton, Chief, Orleans Defenders
• Spencer Merriweather, District Attorney, Mecklenburg County Public Defender

The content for the second training is still being developed. The goal is to focus both trainings on leadership for public defenders to assist them in advocating for greater resources to support the Sixth Amendment.
The proposed panel will include:
• Genevieve Citrin, AU Justice Programs
• Hon. Rodney Ellis, Harris County Commissioner
• Rosalie Joy, NLADA, VP of Defender Legal Services

NLADA hosted two trainings in October 2018 at the NLADA Annual Conference in Houston, TX. The first, “Leadership Training: How to Make the Case for Public Defense Resources,” was a panel that discussed how chief public defenders and court administrators can effectively advocate for resources to support the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel. The session focused on the leadership and advocacy skills needed to “make the case” to funders and other key criminal justice stakeholders. This session featured a panel discussion including: Keir Bradford-Grey, Chief Defender, Defender Association of Philadelphia; Vivian King, Chief of Staff, Harris County (TX) District Attorney’s Office; Tami Sawyer, Commissioner, Shelby County (TN) District 7; and Kevin Tully, Chief Defender, Mecklenburg County (NC) Public Defender. The second training, “How to Work Collaboratively with System Stakeholders to Advance the Right to Counsel,” discussed the importance of partnering with traditional adversaries and unlikely allies to achieve shared goals in protecting Sixth Amendment rights. This session featured insight from: Stan German, Executive Director, New York County Defender Services; and David LaBahn, President & CEO, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. We also planned out trainings for 2019, which are tentatively to take place at NLADA’s Holistic Defense and Leadership Conferences in June in Baltimore, MD; the NLADA Annual Conference in November in Detroit, MI; and one or more trainings organized around national convenings of criminal justice stakeholders by the MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge.

NLADA focused on planning for upcoming in-person training this quarter. We worked with BJA staff to develop topics and ideas for upcoming defender leadership training. Our goal is to host another in-person education session in September 2019 in conjunction with the New Defender Leadership Institute and/or American Council of Chief Defenders Conference.

NLADA hosted in-person Sixth Amendment training at NLADA Annual Conference in Detroit, MI on November 7-8, 2019. We worked with BJA staff to develop topics and ideas for upcoming defender leadership training and completed the in-person training this quarter. NLADA hosted a leadership training for the American Council of Chief Defenders. This session addressed how defender leaders can uphold the Sixth Amendment. The Sixth Amendment outlines a set of safeguards for people who are accused of crimes and brought to court. These rights help ensure fair trials and accurate verdicts. However, many of the rights are not fully realized in today’s courts. This session focused on how defenders can lead on advancing these rights, and discuss how the intersection of race and poverty played a role in shaping the realities in the courtroom.

Below is the outline of the other workshops presented:

The Non-Adversarial Role of Public Defenders and Prosecutors: Lessons learned from on how to advance criminal justice reform through collaboration

Defenders and prosecutors involved in criminal justice reform support the goals of decreasing unnecessary criminal justice involvement and reducing racial and ethnic disparities within the law enforcement system. The ultimate objective is to promote justice and create safer communities, which is paramount to ensure a more just and fair U.S. criminal legal system.
Through the Safety and Justice Challenge, prosecutors and defenders have worked on reforms and faced a few challenges along the way. This session will discuss how to engage in successful collaborations between prosecutors and defenders while respecting the traditional adversarial roles.

The Parity Project: How to advance advocacy on the principle of equal pay for prosecution and defense

Low salaries among public defenders remain a challenge in recruiting and retaining talented attorneys long term, and the fight for equal pay is a central issue in many jurisdictions. Many defender offices have not been able to overcome the pay disparities among defenders and prosecutors and/or local government attorneys. The Legal Aid Society of New York recently launched and won a successful campaign to pay parity, and they used various strategies and community engagement to win this fight. This session on the “The Parity Project” will help public defenders learn how to advocate for equal pay for prosecution and defense, and discuss how they can align these issues with community engagement.

Changing the Narrative About the Criminal Punishment System & Race
Reforming the criminal punishment system is now a bipartisan priority with public support in red states and blue. Changing the narrative about the people who defenders and legal aid attorneys represent and the communities from which they come has been key to creating an environment conducive to reform. This session will explore the role of public defenders, advocacy groups, and the media in changing how we talk and think about the criminal punishment system and the people trapped in it and how changing the narrative has led to policy reform and improved client representation.

The Right to Counsel is a right to Effective Assistance of Counsel.
How does the defense community define effective? Is it measured by the quality of the services provided?

The Impartial Jury- Is that a real thing?
Achieving a jury make up that is representative of your client’s peers is a Sixth Amendment guarantee, but a right that can be elusive.

The Research Quotient
Research + Results = Reform. NLADA has a host of resources – including toolkits, reports, and guides – to help defenders undertake research projects to improve their services and to demonstrate to funders and others why that matters. Come learn about supports to launch your own research project: how to find grants, how to find research partners, and how to get free advice about getting started. Some of the resources that will be mentioned in this session include new publications from BJA’s Innovative Solutions in Public Defense Initiative and NLADA’s Building Research Capacity work. Participants are encouraged to talk about projects they are interested in pursuing.

• In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, NLADA shifted all in-person education/training events from mid-March 2020 onward to a virtual setting. NLADA issued a survey to the field and conducted two focus groups to identify issues related to ensuring access to counsel during pandemic court closures. We convened public defender leaders from across the country for a round table discussion regarding the impact of COVID and needs arising related to access to counsel, delays in speedy trial issues and compulsory process. We also convened our client, civil and defender councils to discuss the same defender issues arising from the pandemic and to identify resource needs in the field.
• A library of resources has been developed and disseminated to the field that support access to information and training remotely.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, NLADA shifted all in-person education/training events from mid-March 2020 onward to a virtual setting. NLADA issued a survey to the field and conducted two focus groups to identify issues related to ensuring access to counsel during pandemic court closures. We convened public defender leaders from across the country for a round table discussion regarding the impact of COVID and needs arising related to access to counsel, delays in speedy trial issues and compulsory process. We also convened our client, civil and defender councils to discuss the same defender issues arising from the pandemic and to identify resource needs in the field.

· Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year saw the annual Holistic Defense & Leadership Conferences be conducted in an entirely virtual setting for the first time. Originally set to take place in Baltimore, Maryland in June, the virtual gatherings took place over the course of three evenings on July 14-16. Three distinct conferences convened: the American Council of Chief Defenders Meeting (July 14), the Community-Oriented Defender Network Conference (July 15), and the Black Public Defender Association Conference (July 16). Each conference provided not only substantive and engaging sessions, but also opportunities for networking and informal conversation among participants. The virtual setting allowed NLADA to reach a larger audience than it would have as an in-person event, as over 700 people registered for the conferences, with approximate attendance figures of 85 for ACCD, nearly 500 for COD, and nearly 400 for BPDA. In terms of programming, all of this year’s virtual HDLC convenings focused intensively on the role of racial equity and the role of public defenders in policing reforms. A plenary session engaged attendees in discussion on the role of chief defenders in the Black Lives Matter movement. Breakout sessions delved into a variety of discussions, including holistic defense in the context of a pandemic, preparation for budget cuts, and the necessity of racial equity in pretrial justice.

· With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to make in-person gatherings infeasible, this year saw the NLADA Annual Conference be conducted in an entirely virtual setting for the first time. Originally set to take place in Arlington, Virginia, the virtual gatherings took place on November 10-13. The centerpiece of our defender sessions was the Defender Caucus, which focused on a conversation about defenders’ role in police reform, featuring chief defenders from Minneapolis, Louisville, Philadelphia, Wayne County (NY), and New York City. Other Defender-track sessions focused on defenders driving policy change, community-accountable public defense, trauma-informed advocacy, the role of culture in building public defense organizations, and safety in the field amid COVID-19.

· A library of resources has been developed and disseminated to the field that support access to information and training remotely.