The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Board of Governors, through the Committee on Public Defense, proposed a rule change during their May meeting. The stated goal of the rule change is to promote independence of public defense services from judicial influence or control.

The text of the rule change and discussion can be found in the WSBA materials on pages 283 – 290.

The key provision of the proposed rule change impacting cities states that judges, judicial staff, city attorneys, county prosecutors, and law enforcement officers shall not select the attorneys who will be included in a contract or an assigned counsel list. Additionally, it would mean that judges and judicial staff could neither manage nor oversee public defense services, including public defense contracts and assigned counsel lists.

Under the rule change, judges would encourage local governments to employee attorneys with public defense experience to manage and oversee public defense services.

The proposed rule change will be considered by the Washington State Supreme Court. While not yet published for comment, it is expected that the proposed rule changes will be posted on the court proposed rules website with a deadline for comments. Cities may wish to provide comments on impacts of the change.