Diary of a Civil Public Defender: Critical Lessons for Achieving Transformative Change on Behalf of Communities

“As civil public defenders, we venture into courts, struggles and conflicts where no constitutional right to a lawyer, and very few other protections exist to ensure fairness in process and justice on behalf of the people we represent. We fight for the basic necessities that are destabilized or deprived once an individual is criminally or otherwise accused. We are a growing group of social justice warriors changing the face of public defense. Working in partnership with our clients, collaborators, and co-conspirators, we are bridging the gap between criminal justice reform and civil justice to bring transformative change on behalf of communities. The people we serve deserve no less.”

Read Runa Rajagopal‘s, our Managing Director of the Civil Action Practice, full essay published in the Fordham Urban Law Journal here