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District attorneys report heavy caseloads and expanding use of AI tools
Summary
District attorneys told the committee they prosecuted hundreds of thousands of cases last year, are using AI in legal research and evidence management, and that a workload study suggests the state needs additional assistant prosecutors in fast‑growing jurisdictions.
A representative of the District Attorneys Conference described prosecutorial volume and technology adoption in a presentation to the Finance committee. “We, over the last year, oversaw the prosecution of 717,800 cases statewide,” the representative said, and noted average assistant DA caseloads that have been affected by COVID backlogs and post‑pandemic trends.
The conference highlighted adoption of AI tools for office operations and legal research (including Westlaw CoCounsel licenses) and the use of digital evidence management systems such as Axon. The office said a weighted caseload study and a personnel survey suggested a need for roughly 75 additional assistant DAs statewide, concentrated in rapidly growing jurisdictions such as Murfreesboro, Clarksville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis; staff said they would continue to develop targeted staffing requests and share further details with the committee.
