National Public Defense Virtual Conference 2021

Every day, the criminal legal system dehumanizes our clients.  This experience is not limited to the courtroom.  Our “Defenders at the Desk” (Client Advocates, Social Workers, Investigators, and Legal Assistants) are superheroes who spend their days fighting against this dehumanization with fearlessness, compassion, and devotion to our clients.  This training spotlights the exceptional work done by Client Advocates and Legal Assistants working quietly from home or from their corner cubicle.  They may not be going to court but they have witty one liners, a sense of humor, a fighting spirit and are always one step ahead of their nemesis-just like your favorite Superhero!

The dynamics within our teams directly impact client outcomes in ways that can be positive or negative. Teams that don’t get along well don’t often get the best results for their clients.  Dysfunctional team dynamics shift the focus away from the client and towards the discord between members of the team.  Teams that get along too well can value team consensus over making the best decisions.  This session will address how effective teams are built, ways to address issues within a team, and ways to improve team functioning.  We will explore why and how diverse teams are more effective, why communication styles matter, and how our differences can be used for the benefit of our clients.  

This session will go through the history of women and money and why historically we haven’t led the financial discussions in our relationships. Some key takeaways to implement and negotiate in your personal finance, whether you are married or single will be provided, as reviewing a number of technical FAQ’s around money and your daily decisions.

This fast-paced and highly interactive session will introduce participants to Motivational Interviewing (MI) concepts that will help them engage successfully with clients, repair conversational discord, and establish a collaborative climate of trust for an effective working relationship.

This session will not be recorded.

The Art of Difficult Conversations – Using Radical Candor and Related Tools to Achieve Shared Outcomes and Foster Positive Working Relationships

• We’ll take a moment to be reflective because knowing & managing one’s self, emotions, and stories is paramount to our ability to have productive and successful conversations;
• Gain a better understanding of why it’s imperative that we hold each other accountable and have difficult conversations (even when we don’t want to);
• Gain a better understanding the impact our words & messaging has on our colleagues and our agency’s culture;
• Learn the import of building strong relationships with your team and others so that you are empowered to have radically candid discussions;
•        Gain tips & tools to hold discussions that need to be had but all of us shy away from because we are busy, they are uncomfortable, and we hope things will get better with time.

"One of the greatest challenges experts face when participating in capital defense mitigation is providing the jury with visual mitigating evidence. Sixty-five percent of the population are visual learners – so give them something to look at. Maps can literally provide a visual snapshot of what is happening in a defendant’s life and what mitigation factors influenced his/her life.

Testimony aided by digital mapping provides a persuasive means for presenting complex, community risk factors for criminal violence such as poverty, exposure to violence, lead exposure, community disorganization, gang activity, lack of role models and substandard education.  Such considerations of shaping influences are critical to a sentencing determination.  

This session teaches advocates how to diffuse a situation when a client faces especially challenging circumstances. Clients are facing very difficult situations, and the role of attorneys is to understand the complexities of their mental state and work effectively with them during this time. Attendees will learn practice tips and strategies to apply in their cases.

This session will explore ways to advance storytelling through the use of numerous visual aids. It will include a brief overview on the importance of utilizing storytelling as an effective means of persuasion, but mainly focus on concrete ways to use visuals in court, and online, to allow fact finders to better comprehend and retain information conveyed.

Working in the criminal legal field, we often see people on their worst days. The stress, anxiety, worry, and frustration over their legal case and underlying life circumstances pours out and often onto us. These chance meetings with clients can be challenging at best, sometimes effecting how we interact with and engage clients seeking assistance. The goal of this presentation is to understand the psychology and physiology of what happened to our clients prior to their criminal legal involvement, effecting their reactivity, impulsivity, and anxiety. We will then learn how to use client-centered therapy techniques of unconditional positive regard, empathic understanding, and perspective-taking to engage distressed clients with care and without judgment while minimizing our reactions during challenging interactions.

This session will present some recent innovations in the use of data and data analytics to inform public defense.

Julie Ciccolini, of NACDL, will discuss innovations in tracking police misconduct for public defenders. The presentation will showcase an application designed by The Legal Aid Society in NY for defenders to track police misconduct data that is now being used by other defense organizations across the country. It will emphasize the important role defenders play in holding police accountable and provide tips for organizations on how to get started with their own database.

Stev Weidlich, of the King County Department of Public Defense (Seattle, WA), will discuss the various ways the department collects and visualizes data related to its various case areas. The presentation will show how the department currently uses data to help manage its processes, including data related to: prosecutor filings, attorney case assignments and caseloads, charges, indigency screening, support staff casework, trial rates, disposition rates, and other key performance indicators. The presentation aims to provide other departments with ideas on how they can use and present their own data to influence strategic direction and everyday management.

Organizations across the country have added the role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer/Chief/Director
to their organizational chart. What do you need to know before hiring a DEI officer or advocating for this
position? In this presentation, you’ll hear from DEI professionals at three different public defender offices, learn
how this role can operate in your office, pitfalls to avoid, and how to champion the cause of equity and
inclusion within smaller offices.

This session will not be recorded.