Lawyers rally for GA public defender system

From the Macon Telegraph:

Defense attorneys were among the loudest supporters of Georgia’s ambitious public defender program, which for the first time created a statewide network of full-time attorneys to represent Georgia’s poor.

Which may explain why several of Georgia’s most prominent defense attorneys were in court Thursday, urging a Fulton County judge to prevent the ailing system from firing four full-time attorneys and replacing them with contract staff.

To those critics, the move could set an “unconscionable” precedent that threatens to undermine the program’s mission by slipping back to the much-maligned system of contract attorneys that once represented Georgia’s indigent.

“This is not about the right of lawyers to have a job,” said Stephen Bright, director of the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights. “It’s about the right of clients to be represented.”

But the system’s administrators, who have long argued that their hands are tied by budget cuts, say firing permanent attorneys and replacing them with private sector staffers is a necessary reality in a tough economy.

“It’s sad for the four lawyers who got laid off. It’s certainly unfortunate,” said Devon Orland, a state attorney. “But in this state, there’s no right to have a job.”

Fulton Superior Court Judge Melvin Westmoreland is expected to rule in the case next week.

Read the entire story