{"id":83808,"date":"2026-09-10T18:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T01:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=83808"},"modified":"2026-09-10T18:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T01:57:15","slug":"los-angeles-county-public-defenders-office-announces-completion-of-rand-attorney-workload-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=83808","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles County Public Defender\u2019s Office Announces Completion of RAND Attorney Workload Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

A data-driven roadmap for strengthening the future of indigent defense in LA<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 The Los Angeles County Public Defender\u2019s Office today announced the publication of an\u00a0independent workload study<\/a>\u00a0by RAND, designed specifically to assess the work and capacity required within its Office.<\/p>\n

Commissioned and funded by the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office in 2024, the study provides a data-informed assessment of Los Angeles Public Defender workload, looking beyond case counts to examine the time and complexity involved in moving cases from filing through resolution. RAND\u2019s analysis draws on the Office’s case-management and case-complexity data, staffing information, an attorney time study, a structured Delphi process involving experienced attorneys, and input from Public Defender subject-matter experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cRAND gives us an independent, data-informed understanding of the work our attorneys and staff are doing every day and what is required to sustain that work,\u201d said\u00a0Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo D. Garc\u00eda<\/strong>. \u201cOur teams continue to do extraordinary work for\u00a0the people we serve. This study gives us an opportunity to build on that work with a thoughtful, sustainable\u00a0plan for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe work of criminal defense has changed a lot in\u00a0a short time. Body-worn camera footage alone can add hours of review to\u00a0a single case, and mental health diversion asks attorneys to do work that looks nothing like traditional case preparation,\u201d said\u00a0RAND policy researcher Maya Buenaventura<\/strong>. \u201cLos Angeles County is ahead of most\u00a0jurisdictions\u00a0in trying to measure that complexity systematically. Our question was whether the system captures how much effort cases\u00a0actually require, and where it could be sharpened.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among its key recommendations, RAND concluded that the Public Defender\u2019s Office should:<\/p>\n