Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Utah Indigent Defense Commission: county lacks attorneys to meet new ABA caseload standards
Summary
Utah Indigent Defense Commission staff told the commissioners that applying the new ABA 2023 caseload standards to Utah County’s FY2023 appointed cases would require roughly 101,985 attorney hours (about 55 full‑time district court attorneys), and — accounting for recent increases in mid‑ and low‑level felonies — staffing needs could rise to about 82 attorneys.
Matt Barraza, Executive Director of the Utah Indigent Defense Commission (IDC), and Leslie Howitt, the IDC’s data and research analyst, briefed the Utah County Board of Commissioners on Nov. 1 about new American Bar Association caseload standards and a prior 2019 Utah study that corroborates the national findings.
Howitt said the IDC used Fiscal Year 2023 appointed‑case counts and category‑hour multipliers to estimate attorney needs for district court work in Utah County. That calculation produced 101,985 attorney hours — roughly the equivalent of 55 full‑time…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat