Bolder Management for Public Defense: Leadership in Three Dimensions
Introduction
The boldest managers of indigent defense organizations are getting out from behind their desks and expanding their work environments. Not that they had any free time. Whether they run a public defender office or oversee a panel of private attorneys, these leaders were already working full-time: managing budgets, recruiting and deploying lawyers, organizing training, and keeping the courts moving every day. However, these managers have made time to branch out beyond these basic administrative tasks. They have expanded the scope of their management because they realized they could make a difference on a different plane. Understanding the potential of embracing a bolder form of leadership, these defense leaders have decided to move into new dimensions of public defense. For the last two years, some of these bold managers, as members of the Executive Session on Public Defense at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, have been telling their stories and distilling lessons from the wide variety of experiences they have had as defense lawyers, as managers, and as leaders in the field. These stories and experiences suggest three dimensions in which managers of indigent defense services can lead their organizations and their field. First, inside their offices, they can offer a special clarity of vision. Second, with their colleagues in other criminal justice agencies, they can build consensus for positive reforms within the whole system. Third, in public debate, they can advance a vision of crime prevention that rises above ideology. Indigent defense is not the most popular work in the legal profession. Many managers are regularly questioned by friends and relatives about how they can devote themselves so thoroughly to the cause of poor people accused of crimes ranging from smoking marijuana to murder. However, if more managers practiced leadership in these three dimensions, the work itself could gain appeal, for its connections with powerful values widely shared in society would be clearer to all. No single leader has completely succeeded, but together their efforts provide a coherent picture of leadership in these three dimensions. This paper, illustrated with examples from around the country, is a guide to how others might adopt a similar, bold vision of management in public defense.
Suggested Reading
U.S. Elections 2020: Where and How Do We Draw a Constitutionally Permissible Line to a Candidate's Inflammatory Political Rhetoric?
"It's important to note that scholars have long observed that political discourse and political events can contribute to the frequency of bias incidents. In fact, this phenomenon has a name today. It's called the Trump Effect."
There is a National Emergency at the Southern Border: True or False?
Experts discuss legal developments and related ramifications one year after President Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S. Southern Border with Mexico in order to build a wall.
The Muslim Ban Revisited: Trump v. Hawaii Two Years Later
The discriminatory laws, practices, and policies promised and delivered by President Trump have social, political, and economic ramifications. First, they reinforce misconceptions about Islam as an inherently violent religion. Second, they breed intolerance, fear, and hostility among the general population
Review of Immigration-Related U.S. Supreme Court Cases: Challenges, Ramifications, and What to Expect
Scholars discuss the most significant immigration-related cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, their ramifications, and what to expect in 2020.