Success stories from public defenders using technology
January 2025
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5 min read
According to data from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, in 2021, over 500 Texas attorneys handled more public defense cases than the established guidelines recommend. Public defenders are overworked and overloaded with cases leading to burnout and high turnover within the profession.
Most current solutions require PDs to manage physical case files, manually input case details within the system, sift through hours of audiovisual recordings to find key evidence, and switch between multiple apps to review their discovery.
As a result, PDs struggle to keep up with case demands, putting them at risk of providing inadequate representation to their clients.
With dedicated case management systems and pre-trial preparation tools, attorneys are now able to quickly and accurately transcribe thousands of bodycam videos, automate data entry, create video exhibits to present at hearings, and provide real-time alert when judicial rulings are added to a client’s case.
In this post, I’ll share a few success stories of public defense offices that are benefiting from the use of technology:
Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office: AI-Powered data entry and client management system
In 2019, the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office (LACPDO) started the use of three of Amazon Web Service’s solutions—Amazon Textract for documents, Amazon Comprehend to identify insights and relationships within text using machine learning, and Amazon S3 for cloud object storage—to process large volumes of case documents and reports from multiple agencies.
The system reduced manual data entry by up to 85%, making cases searchable. Before, it required the office’s 700 public defenders and their staff to manually digitize the paper files they received.
Along with digitized documents and a cloud-based client case management system, the system also provides proactive alerts for legal filings. Now attorneys are able to receive automatic notifications when documents, filings or judicial rulings are added to their client’s case.
In one instance, a public defender was alerted to a bench warrant for a client, allowing them to intervene before the client was arrested.
The client was able to attend court and avoid further legal complications, demonstrating the system's effectiveness in improving client outcomes and enhancing defense strategies
This technology was able to address two major challenges:
First, most documents were digitized as PDFs, making them searchable and easily categorized.
Second, there was the overwhelming task of managing massive volumes of paper documents received daily from arresting agencies and the District Attorney’s office—often numbering in the thousands in a single day.
By automating these processes, the technology eliminated the need for hiring a data-entry team, which would have required 40 dedicated staff members to handle the workload—a solution that would have been prohibitively expensive.
The Office of the Colorado State Public Defender conquer evidence overload with AI transcription of video discovery footage
Reduct.Video is a dedicated audiovisual evidence management system that has been helping public defenders go from mountains of discovery to crisp video exhibits within minutes.
The common approach for PDs was to send the recordings to court reporters to transcribe only what they felt was the most relevant parts of the discovery.
This approach risked overlooking critical evidence, delayed transcription delivery, and increased costs due to high court reporter fees.
But with Reduct’s rapid AI-transcription capability, PDs are now able to quickly transcribe and search for critical evidence within seconds. This process has drastically reduced the time spent on evidence review and cost of court transcription in total.
Over a thousand staff at the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender (COPD) rely on Reduct to transcribe bodycam footage and police interviews, and prepare captioned exhibits for trial.
The platform centralizes transcription and offers accurate transcripts of body-worn camera footage and police interrogations that are generated within minutes using AI technology.
The platform's ability to handle multiple audio and video formats and its integration with cloud storage simplifies the evidence management process.
Reduct improves accessibility with its translation features, allowing public defenders to represent non-English speaking clients more effectively.
Reduct has been doing the heavy lifting for public defenders at COPD Office, allowing them to focus more on their clients' cases and ultimately improving the efficiency of public defense services in the state.
Transforming case management at Kane County Public Defender's Office: unifying justice
With 36 attorneys and 10 support staff, the Kane County Public Defender’s Office handles approximately 18,000 new cases annually. Their office used to work its caseload using Access databases, Excel spreadsheets, and homegrown SQL databases.
This resulted in staff performing inefficient duplicate data entry that was laborious, time consuming, and prone to errors.
In December of 2016, Kane County launched Enterprise Justice, which unified case management across the circuit clerk, the court, the state’s attorney, and the public defender.
This system became the single source for PDs to initiate cases, and access documents and audiovisual evidence, eliminating the need to rely on siloed spreadsheets and databases.
This transition from outdated databases to a centralized digital system reduced case initiation time from 15 minutes to just three.
After 18 months of adopting Tyler Technologies' Enterprise Justice system, they successfully digitized tens of thousands of paper case files.
This shift saved several hours each week that were previously spent managing physical documents.
The transition has led to a 100% utilization rate among staff, allowing them to handle complex felony cases more efficiently while improving overall case management.
New York County Defender Services says goodbye to paper files
Until recently, each case at New York County Defender Services (NYCDS) had a physical folder that lived in an attorney’s briefcase, filing cabinet, or archived in an offsite warehouse.
These paper files made it nearly impossible to quickly reference information on a case, and added a lot of unnecessary manual work to the public defender’s already busy schedule. That all changed once NYCDS implemented LegalServer in 2023.
"Lawyers, investigators, social workers, and specialists all have access to case information in LegalServer, some of it in real time, all for the singular goal of zealous advocacy for our clients," says Christopher Boyles, Director of Data Research and Policy, New York County Defender Services.
Each court case has its own LegalServer page, which acts as a digital case folder for the entire defense team to use. These case pages include information on charges, upcoming court dates, case notes from each team member, and relevant case documents.
In-house referrals are submitted directly through LegalServer, meaning specialized units such as immigration attorneys and social workers can quickly get up to speed on a case. It's like sending a message directly to the right expert instead of having to go through a lot of steps.
All of this data being in one place enables rich analysis.
Directors and supervisors in NYCDS build personalized reports that give a birds-eye view of caseloads, resource allocation, and trends in the criminal legal system enabling data-driven decisions to improve efficiency and outcomes.
Malia Brink, co-author of the National Public Defense Workload Study, highlights– public defense attorneys with excessive caseloads and increase in audiovisual evidence are not being able to dedicate adequate time and attention to each client, undermining the justice system's promise of equal justice for all.
To address this challenge, public defender offices are turning to technology to keep up with excessive case demands, and improve pre-trial preparation.
With these tools, PDs can now keep track of case progress, review evidence quickly and automate tedious manual tasks.
Underrepresented clients can get the adequate representation they deserve.