Students will survey individuals incarcerated in the Travis County Jail who were represented by a CAPDS attorney after the close of their case. Students also will interview individual detained in the Travis County jail who submit complaints to CAPDS about lack of communication with their appointed defense counsel and other attorney performance issues. Students may perform other tasks, such as examining jail logs, calling family members, and reviewing court files, to assist CAPDS in its review of complaints and its efforts to monitor and improve the performance of attorneys who accept court appointments to represent low-income individuals accused of criminal offenses.
Organization
Capitol Area Private Defender Service
CAPDS enhances the quality of representation provided to indigent adult criminal defendants in Travis County. CAPDS achieves this by establishing meaningful standards for quality representation, ensuring appointed counsel exceeds these standards, overseeing the work of appointed counsel, and providing educational and mentoring services to support those appointed to represent indigent clients.
Project Details
- Website
- http://www.capds.org
- Project Start Date
September 2015
- Approximate hours of work requested
- 15 hours, including training
- Training
- Training will be held 11:50am-1pm on Thursday, October 8 in CCJ 1.324
- Skills used
- Client interviewing/intake; investigation
- Project location
- Travis County Jail, Del Valle location
- Address
- 509 W. 11th Street, Austin, TX 78701
- Number of student volunteers requested
- 4
- Class year preference
- 1L, 2L, 3L, LLM
- Required skills
- Language: Spanish helpful but not necessary
- To Apply
- Submit email stating interest and any language skills to Sarah Sedgwick at ssedgwick@law.utexas.edu; applications received by noon on Monday, September 28 will receive priority consideration