Welcome

The mission of the Washington State Office of Public Defense (OPD) is "to implement the constitutional and statutory guarantees of counsel and to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of indigent defense services funded by the state... ."  RCW 2.70.005.  Established by the Legislature in 1996, OPD is an independent agency of the judicial branch.

OPD administers indigent defense services in the following areas:

• Appellate Program
• Parents Representation Program
• RCW 71.09 Civil Commitment
• Extraordinary Criminal Justice Costs
• Public Defense Improvement Program
  • Indigency Screening
  • Implementation of the Supreme Court's Standards for Indigent Defense
  • Chapter 10.101 RCW Public Defense Improvement Funds
  • Resources- Juvenile Offender Cases

OPD cannot provide direct representation of clients, pursuant to RCW 2.70.020.

Featured News

Federal Region 10 Parent Representation Leadership Forum

"Every Parent Deserves a Champion"- conference materials are available.

Resources: Consequences of Juvenile Adjudications

Juvenile court involvement can impact youths’ opportunities in areas such as housing, education, employment, and healthcare. With grant funds received from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, OPD developed a series of web videos to help youth, their families, and people working in the juvenile justice system better understand and address these collateral consequences. Each video is approximately twenty minutes in length, and contains a variety of helpful web links and downloadable resources.

OPD County Clerk Payment Policy

OPD has promulgated a new policy clarifying payment policies for superior court clerk's fees.

2015 Status Report on Local Criminal Public Defense Issues

The 2015 Status Report on Public Defense in Washington State discusses recent trends in criminal public defense services, highlights annual accomplishments of OPD's Defense Improvement Program, and lists counties' and cities' statistics relating to public defense services..

Tools for Implementing the Supreme Court's Standards for Indigent Defense

To assist in implementation of the Supreme Court Standards for Indigent Defense, OPD has developed a series of short web tutorials, an FAQ, sample caseload calculators, and a customizable Model Misdemeanor Case Weighting Policy .   Additional questions or requests for technical assistance can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..