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Defender Services - Annual Report 2009

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Training is offered to enhance the quality of representation services provided under the Criminal Justice Act.

Federal Defender Compensation Study

The AO analyzed attorney and administrative support job compensation in federal defender organizations compared with the compensation for similar jobs in U.S. attorneys’ offices. The Criminal Justice Act (CJA), 18 U.S.C. § 3006A (g)(2)(A), gives federal public defenders authority to fix salaries of their staffs at levels comparable to those in U.S. attorney offices. Judicial Conference policy reflects and amplifies this statutory standard: “The Congress...should fund the CJA appropriation at a level sufficient to adjust the salaries of the personnel of federal defender offices to a level equal to comparable positions in the United States attorneys’ offices” (Report of the Judicial Conference of the United States on the Federal Defender Program, March 1993, p. 26). The study found a considerable degree of parity between federal defender and U.S. Attorney compensation of attorney and graded personnel, and revealed no patterns of federal defender over-compensation relative to U.S. attorney personnel.

Criminal Justice Act Training

Adequate compensation for federal defender organization attorneys and staff was studied during 2009 to help guide future planning and funding requests.

The AO presented and supported more than 30 training events for federal defender staff, CJA panel attorneys, and other CJA practitioners in FY 2009, including a new, week-long Federal CJA Trial Academy, produced in collaboration with federal defenders, and attended by 55 attorneys from federal defender organizations. It was designed to be comparable with trial advocacy training provided to Department of Justice lawyers and state prosecutors throughout the year at the Department’s National Advocacy Center. Hundreds of federal defender organization staff accessed the Judiciary Online University web-based training. In addition, a website for CJA practitioners is an expanding resource for information and educational materials.