§ 15:148 — Rulemaking; considerations in developing rules

§148. Rulemaking; considerations in developing rules
A. The office shall adopt all rules necessary to implement the provisions of this Part.
B. The rules shall include but not be limited to:
(1) Creating mandatory statewide public defender standards and guidelines that
require public defender services to be provided in a manner that is uniformly fair and
consistent throughout the state. Those standards and guidelines shall take into consideration
all of the following:
(a) Manageable public defender workloads that permit the rendering of competent
representation through an empirically based case weighting system that does not count all
cases of similar case type equally but rather denotes the actual amount of attorney effort
needed to bring a specific case to an appropriate disposition. In determining an appropriate
workload monitoring system, the office shall take into consideration all of the following:
(i) The variations in public defense practices and procedures in rural, urban, and
suburban jurisdictions.
(ii) Factors such as prosecutorial and judicial processing practices, trial rates,
sentencing practices, attorney experience, extent and quality of supervision, and availability
of investigative, social worker, and support staff.
(iii) Client enhancers specific to each client such as the presence of mental illness.
(b) Continuity of representation. The office shall adopt standards and guidelines
which ensure that each district devises a plan to provide that, to the extent feasible and
practicable, the same attorney handles a case from appointment contact through completion
at the district level in all cases.
(c) Documentation of communication. The office shall adopt standards and
guidelines to ensure that defense attorneys providing public defender services provide
documentation of communications with clients regarding the frequency of attorney-client
communications as required by rules adopted by the board.
(d) Performance supervision protocols. The office shall adopt standards and
guidelines to ensure that all defense attorneys providing public defender services undergo
periodic review of their work against the performance standards and guidelines in a fair and
consistent manner throughout the state, including creating a uniform evaluation protocol.
(e) Performance of public defenders in all assigned public defense cases. The office
shall adopt general standards and guidelines that alert defense counsel to courses of action
that may be necessary, advisable, or appropriate to a competent defense including
performance standards in the nature of job descriptions.
(f) Consistency of standards. The performance standards and guidelines shall be
based upon the performance standards originally adopted by the Louisiana Indigent Defense
Assistance Board (LIDAB) in 2006 and any subsequent amendments to those standards
adopted by the office.
(2) Creating mandatory qualification standards for public defenders that ensure that
the public defender services are provided by competent counsel. Those standards shall
ensure that public defenders are qualified to handle specific case types which shall take into
consideration the level of education and experience that is necessary to competently handle
certain cases and case types such as juvenile delinquency, capital, appellate, and other case
types in order to provide effective assistance of counsel. Qualification standards shall
include all of the following:
(a) The specific training programs that must be completed to qualify for each type
of case.
(b) The number of years the public defender has spent in the practice of law in good
standing with the Louisiana State Bar Association.
(3) Establishing methods of monitoring and evaluating compliance with the
mandatory public defender standards and guidelines and the performance of counsel in order
to ensure competent representation of defendants in all courts of the state.
(4) Establishing procedures to handle complaints about public defender performance
and to ensure that public defenders, office personnel, and clients are aware of avenues
available for bringing a complaint and that office procedures do not conflict with the
supervisory jurisdiction of the Louisiana Supreme Court and pursuant to the court's inherent
authority provided for in Article V, Section 5 of the Constitution of Louisiana.
(5) Establishing policies and procedures for ensuring that cases are handled
according to the Rules of Professional Conduct.
(6) Establishing policies and procedures for handling conflict of interest cases and
overflow cases when workload standards which are established by rules of the office are
breached.
(7) Establishing policies and procedures to ensure that detailed expenditure and
workload data is collected, recorded, and reported to support strategic planning efforts for
the system.
(8) Creating separate performance standards and guidelines for attorney performance
in capital case representation, juvenile delinquency, appellate, and any other subspecialties
of criminal defense practice as well as children in need of care cases determined to be
feasible, practicable, and appropriate by the office.
(9) Ensuring data, including workload, is collected and maintained in a uniform and
timely manner throughout the state to allow the office sound data to support resource needs.
(10) Providing for minimum salary and compensation standards for attorney,
investigator, paraprofessional, and any and all other staff necessary for the adequate defense
of indigent defendants in criminal courts and comparable to other positions of similar stature
throughout the state.
(11) Establishing processes and procedures to ensure that when a case that is
assigned presents a conflict of interest for a public defender, the conflict is identified and
handled appropriately and ethically.
(12) Establishing processes and procedures to ensure that office and contract
personnel use information technology and workload management systems so that detailed
data is accurately collected, recorded, and reported.
(13) Establishing administrative ranges for compensation of attorneys delivering
public defender services throughout the state so that compensation is based on objective
policymaking, including years of service, nature of the work and workload, and in
consideration of variations in public defense practices and procedures in rural, urban, and
suburban districts as well as prosecutorial and judicial processing practices, trial rates,
sentencing practices, and attorney experience.
(14) Repealed by Acts 2024, 2 nd Ex. Sess., No. 22, §3, eff. March 20, 2024.
(15) Repealed by Acts 2024, 2 nd Ex. Sess., No. 22, §3, eff. March 20, 2024.
C. All rules shall be adopted pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative
Procedure Act and shall be subject to legislative oversight by the House Committee on the
Administration of Criminal Justice and the Senate Committee on Judiciary B.

Legislative History

Added by Acts 1976, No. 653, §1; Acts 1987, No. 920, §1; Acts 2005, No. 343, §1; Acts 2007, No. 307, §1; Acts 2008, No. 220, §6, eff. June 14, 2008; Acts 2024, 2 nd Ex. Sess., No. 22, §§1, 3, eff. March 20, 2024.