Montana Public Defender Uncertainty

As the July 1 deadline approaches for Montana's move to a statewide public defender system, it's a little hard to tell what's happening. The part I care most about is what they're going to do about staffing. The last news I heard was that the Public Defender Commission had announced that current public defenders (those who have been employed by county governments up until now) will not be guaranteed jobs in the new state system. I know that probably sounds bad for them, but I also assume that, despite that announcement, most of them will actually end up getting hired by the state. So I'm still wondering: Will the state be hiring new public defenders soon? And if so, will they be considering new graduates like myself? The commission met for the second time this year two weeks ago and I sort of assumed they'd be talking about staffing issues at that tim. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a single news report or press release to indicate what happened at that meeting. Uncertainty reigns.

In the only news I have found recently, one county hasnamed an interim public defender to work only between now and July 1. But come on — are we really supposed to believe that people like this are just going to lose their jobs on July 1?

Meanwhile, I've set up one initial interview elsewhere—the first of what I'm told is a 3-step interview/hiring process that can take three months or more. Great.

All this job uncertainty is not fun, but one thing makes it infinitely worse: The bar exam. For this and many other reasons I agree with Professor Solove: We should abolish it!

Posted 09:13 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | Montana