Committee on Justice for Children (cj4c)

Improving Legal Representation

Leads: Tom Rawlings, Judge Kevin Guidry, Kathleen Dumitrescu The Improving Legal Representation project seeks to improve the quality of legal representation for all parties to juvenile court cases. This goal will be accomplished by a focus on standards of practice, training and quality assurance. Members of the commission will identify and support specific steps that can be taken by the judicial system to increase the quality of legal representation in children’s cases, thereby providing access to justice for all involved parties.   Major Goals for Improving Legal Representation Project: Establish standards of practice for all attorneys practicing in juvenile court. Strategies - The American Bar Association, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National Association of Counsel for Children have already written standards of practice that could be adopted in this state. At least one state’s AOC (Arkansas) has modified those standards for their state law and have tied quality assurance and salaries to adherence to standards of practice with positive results. The Georgia Public Defenders Standards Council has agreed to work on standards for parent attorneys and the Georgia Association of Counsel for Children has agreed to work on standards for child attorneys. Ensure attorney access to high-quality training that aligns with the above mentioned standards. Strategies - Institutionalizing education for attorneys representing parties in children’s cases is one of the best ways to improve representation. Both beginner advanced training will be offered at least twice a year. In addition, trial skills training (NITA type) can and should be developed which will also cultivate expert attorneys and trainers for Georgia, such as the NACC specialized child welfare training. Develop a method for providing quality assurance. Strategies - Other states have developed quality assurance instruments that assist with reviews of attorney case files, observations of attorneys in court and interviews to test knowledge and practice. Those instruments can be developed for Georgia’s law and piloted with an experienced, respected practitioner to begin a system of quality assurance for monitoring compliance with standards of practice and identifying excellence in representation.   Progress: In order to improve legal representation, the J4C Committee set the following priorities: Establish standards of practice for all attorneys practicing in juvenile court Ensure attorney access to high quality training that aligns with the above mentioned standards Develop a method for providing quality assurance The J4C Committee established aspirational guidelines for all attorneys working in deprivation cases within Georgia’s Juvenile Courts years ago. More recently, J4C has been working to move those guidelines to standards at least for the attorneys representing parents and children. The Committee has financed the writing of draft standards by two separate organizations: the Georgia Public Defenders Standards Council (GPDSC) regarding attorneys for parents and the Georgia Association of Counsel for Children (GACC) regarding attorneys for children. Both of these organizations have published their draft standards (based closely on American Bar Association (ABA) standards addressing parent and child attorney representation) on their respective websites and have invited comments and questions. In addition, multiple legal trainings have been provided both jointly and separately for all attorneys working in child deprivation cases. Finally, a quality assurance (QA) program evaluating some basic attorney performance has been launched under the direct guidance of J4C.   Relevant Links: Representation for Children and Parents in Dependency Proceedings, (2005), at 4. Pew Commission.