Read on for important information about judicial appointments, FDAP attorney hiring, caseload and budget updates, and the upcoming SDAP training.
Governor Appoints FDAP Attorney to Bench
Please join us in congratulating our long-time colleague and friend, Staff Attorney Stephanie Clarke, who Governor Newsom has appointed to the Contra Costa Superior Court.
Stephanie began her legal career with the State of Connecticut Office of the Public Defender, where she handled both trials and appeals. She joined FDAP as a staff attorney in 1991. Stephanie later accepted a position at the Office of the State Public Defender where she represented death row clients on appeal from their capital convictions, until returning to FDAP in 2003. She has handled several California Supreme Court cases, maintained her own Court of Appeal caseload, and mentored and encouraged countless attorneys embarking on a practice of appellate indigent representation.
We will miss Stephanie tremendously, but our loss is the gain of the people of Contra Costa County!
Be a FDAP Staff Attorney!
FDAP is hiring full-time staff attorneys. Join us in the rewarding work of representing indigent parties in the California Courts of Appeal in criminal, delinquency, child dependency, and civil commitment appeals.
At FDAP, we are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace, our legal work, California’s justice system, and the legal profession. Benefits include robust health care coverage with no employee contribution to premiums.
FDAP is a hybrid office with staff working in the office twice per week; a full-remote schedule would be considered for particularly strong candidates.
FDAP Annual Seminar
Thank you to all who attended FDAP’s annual seminar on April 26th at Preservation Park in Oakland. We had a full line of up speakers, with three criminal and dependency break out sessions. It was great to catch up with colleagues and learn about new developments in the law all while enjoying a pretty spring day. The seminar materials are now available on FDAP’s website.
Caseload Increases
FDAP is keenly aware that the panel is currently under a lot of pressure to accept more cases, resulting from an overall larger caseload in the First District and a smaller number of attorneys available to take appointments (down from over 300 in 2013 to around 265 currently). We appreciate your hard work and willingness to weather this challenging situation, and we will support your efforts.
Recent justice reform measures, while welcome for benefitting our clients, have increased our caseload and the complexity of our cases. And chronically late record filings from two of our counties have impacted appointed attorneys’ ability to plan work on their cases.
When we offer you a case, our hope is that you can accept the appointment without overwhelming you with more work than you can realistically manage. So please be candid with us as to your availability.
In addition, we have informed the Court of Appeal that it is taking us longer to find attorneys for cases and that panel attorneys are taking on bigger caseloads such that it should not be surprising to see an increase in extension requests. Please contact us if you are having particularly difficult time problems in your cases. We are here to help.
Budget News
With an enormous state budget deficit for fiscal year 2024-25, the judiciary’s requested increases for the panel ($10/hour) and appellate projects (7%) did not make it into the Governor’s proposed budget announced in January. This was not surprising given the deficit, but it does contribute to a growing funding crisis which—if not remedied—will make it more and more difficult to serve our indigent clients.
The panel has shrunk due to retirements, individuals taking jobs, and fewer applications. This was predictable, given the paltry funding increases over the decades: since 2007, there were two increases for the projects and three increases for the panel. Those increases were miniscule compared to the soaring increases in the CPI and the state budget. It’s not hard to make the case that new funding is essential to recruit and retain the attorneys who are essential to protecting the rights of our indigent and vulnerable clients.
Recent First District Appointment
Judge Tara Desautels, of Alameda County, has been nominated to serve as an Associate Justice of the First District Court of Appeal, Division Two. She has served as a Judge at the Alameda County Superior Court since 2010.
SDAP Annual Webinar
SDAP’s annual webinar is scheduled for Friday, May 17 via Zoom. Jonathan Grossman will speak on sentencing; Randall Conner will talk about working with SDAP; Lori Quick will provide advice on filing fee claims; Sixth District Court of Appeal Justice Cynthia Lie will answer questions about practicing in front of the Sixth District; and ACLU Surveillance and Cybersecurity Counsel Jennifer Granick will talk about search warrants.
For more information on the presentations and speakers, see the seminar flyer. The webinar is free of charge to all panel attorneys. Register here.