Company Profile
Department of Public Advocacy
Company Overview
Public defenders in Kentucky work for a state agency called the Department of Public Advocacy (DPA). The Kentucky DPA is recognized across the nation as a model state-wide public defender system. Its training program is also known as one of the best in the nation. Newly-hired public defenders are provided over 90 hours of training in their first year in programs designed to get them on their feet practicing skills as well as becoming experts in Kentucky’s criminal law. The Kentucky DPA serves clients at both a trial and post-trial level.
In order to do our work, we need dedicated and highly motivated individuals with a strong desire to help those who often do not have a voice in the justice system. The Kentucky DPA seeks a diverse team driven to become the very best criminal defense attorneys serving the needs of the poorest in our communities.
Company History
A half century ago the Kentucky Supreme Court held that "common justice demands" that an attorney must be appointed when a person charged with a felony is too poor to hire his own counsel. Gholson v. Commonwealth, 212 S.W.2d 537 (Ky. 1948). In the 1960s Kentucky attorneys began to request compensation when they were forced to represent indigents charged wit?h a crime. In 1963, the United States Supreme Court determined that if a state wants to take away a person's liberty, it has to provide an attorney to those persons too poor to hire their own in order to comply with the Federal Constitution. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963). While consistently unsuccessful in convincing Kentucky's highest Court that the judiciary could and should order payment, Kentucky's appointed attorneys did persuade the Kentucky Supreme Court to the point that the Court began to directly encourage the General Assembly to provide a systematic solution for paying the attorneys who were being made to represent the accused.
On September 22, 1972, Kentucky's highest Court characterized the forced representation of indigents as an "intolerable condition" and held it was an unconstitutional taking of an attorney's property - his service to the client - without compensation. From then on no Kentucky attorney could be required to represent an indigent absent compensation. Bradshaw v. Ball, 487 S.W.2d 294 (Ky. 1972). While the appeal in Bradshaw was pending, the 1972 Legislature, at the request of Governor Wendell Ford, created the Office of Public Defender, now the Department of Public Advocacy (DPA), and gave it the responsibility to represent all persons in Kentucky charged with or convicted of a crime. House Bill 461 sponsored by Representatives Kenton, Graves and Swinford passed the House 60-18 on March 7, 1972 and the Senate 26-5 on March 14, 1972.
Benefits
Employees receive the state benefits package including: Group health insurance with a significant employer contribution, optional dental/vision plans, employer contribution to retirement fund, employer paid life insurance policy, continuing legal education opportunities, flexible spending accounts, 12 1/2 paid holidays annually, 401(k) / IRA offerings, employer-paid bar dues, liability insurance coverage.