Local News in Brief : Legal Counsel Funding
Los Angeles County’s supplementary public defender system, designed to provide more legal care for the poor, has been approved for another year by the Board of Supervisors.
The program, Alternate Defense Counsel, was conceived to fill what proponents considered gaps in indigent legal services, including conflicts of interest that occur in cases in which there are multiple defendants with different interests and legal strategies. In such cases, the county public defender would be considered in conflict of interest by representing all the defendants.
Traditionally, the public defender represented one defendant and court-appointed attorneys the others. Unhappy with high fees paid to court-appointed attorneys, the supervisors set up the ADC program, under which lawyers work for a corporation set up by the county and the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.
Supervisor Ed Edelman said the ADC has saved the county more than $5 million.
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