An analysis of California\u2019s indigent defense system finds that Kings and Madera counties are among the clearest examples of a statewide constitutional crisis, with private attorneys handling hundreds of criminal cases under flat-fee contracts that researchers say make effective legal representation virtually impossible. <\/p>\n
The report contends the consequences extend beyond individual courtrooms, contributing to higher incarceration rates, fewer defense motions and growing inequities in the criminal legal system.<\/p>\n
The Wren Collective and UC Berkeley Law\u2019s Criminal Law & Justice Center released Contracted to Fail: Part 2 <\/a>on July 21 as a follow-up to an earlier report examining California\u2019s continued use of flat-fee contracts to provide public defense. <\/p>\n Rather than maintaining traditional public defender offices, most smaller California counties pay private attorneys or firms a fixed amount to represent an unlimited number of indigent clients, creating financial incentives to minimize time spent on each case, according to the report.<\/p>\n While the report examines multiple counties across California, it identifies Kings and Madera counties as among the most alarming examples of what researchers describe as a system in constitutional crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cThe right to counsel means nothing if the lawyer assigned to your case is overwhelmed by hundreds of other cases,\u201d said Chesa Boudin, founding executive director of the UC Berkeley Law Criminal Law & Justice Center.<\/p>\n \u201cThis report exposes caseload numbers higher than anything publicly reported in California history. The consequences are stark: fewer motions filed, worse outcomes, and an unequal system where the quality of your representation depends on the county where you\u2019ve been charged. These findings leave no doubt that flat-fee contracts are producing constitutional violations at scale, and that California can no longer look away.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers analyzed county records, attorney workload reports, court filings and staffing information and concluded that lawyers in flat-fee systems routinely carry workloads far exceeding accepted professional standards. The report also argues those caseloads have been consistently undercounted because many official statistics fail to include cases carried over from previous years.<\/p>\n In Madera County, the report estimates criminal defense attorneys averaged roughly 500 new cases each year, including approximately 160 felony cases and 331 misdemeanors in 2024 alone. The county, with more than 160,000 residents, remains one of California\u2019s largest jurisdictions relying exclusively on flat-fee contracts for public defense. Its incarceration rate is approximately twice the statewide average and higher than every bordering county, according to the report.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are only 365 days in a year, but in Kings County, California, two attorneys are handling almost 400 felony and 150 misdemeanor cases each. In Madera, criminal attorney caseloads average close to 500, even with significant undercounting,\u201d the report states. \u201cThere are not enough hours in the day and in the year, even if these lawyers never went to sleep and worked every hour of the day, to provide effective representation.\u201d<\/p>\n The report found Madera\u2019s contracted defense office employs only 11 attorneys for criminal matters and two investigators to handle between 5,000 and 6,000 annual cases, including roughly 1,500 to 2,000 felonies. Researchers compared that staffing level to Lake County, which recently transitioned away from flat-fee contracts and now employs 11 full-time public defenders and five investigators despite handling only about one-third as many criminal filings.<\/p>\n Josh Schwartz, principal at The Wren Collective and one of the report\u2019s authors, told the Vanguard in a Zoom interview, that the research uncovered conditions that exceeded even the investigators\u2019 expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we did for this report is we looked at counties where we could get data on caseloads in particular,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cThe short version is the answers we got were much worse than even we thought going into this. I mean, these are some of the worst caseloads I\u2019ve ever seen. I think they\u2019re certainly the worst on record for California that I\u2019m aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n Schwartz said Madera\u2019s published caseloads likely understate attorneys\u2019 actual workloads because they exclude cases carried over from previous years.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Madera, attorneys are averaging 500 new cases a year, not even factoring in the cases that they carry into each year,\u201d he said. \u201cThe caseload numbers themselves were really shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n The report explains that carried-over cases can dramatically increase an attorney\u2019s actual workload. Data from Madera\u2019s conflict defense provider showed that accounting for carried cases increased average caseloads by nearly 80 percent, suggesting some attorneys\u2019 true workloads could approach or exceed 800 active matters.<\/p>\n Schwartz emphasized that the report is not intended as criticism of individual defense attorneys.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s no knock against any individual lawyer,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are dedicated and committed and skilled people operating in every type of public defense system. But the part about flat fees that can\u2019t be removed is that it places a conflict in between a lawyer and their client where the more work done on each case, the less profitable the fee.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers also identified troubling performance indicators in Madera County. Court records showed privately retained attorneys filed motions 85 percent more frequently than flat-fee contract lawyers. The report also cited earlier reporting indicating jury trials occurred at roughly half the statewide average under the county\u2019s contract system.<\/p>\n If Madera illustrates the consequences of overwhelming attorney workloads, the report concludes Kings County presents an even more severe picture.<\/p>\n Kings County contracts with individual private attorneys rather than a single law firm, but the county also relies on flat-fee contracts.<\/p>\n According to the report, Kings has California\u2019s highest combined jail and prison incarceration rate\u2014approximately 2.7 times the statewide average\u2014and its jail incarceration rate has increased 44 percent over the past decade even as California\u2019s overall incarceration rate declined by roughly 29 percent.<\/p>\n The report documents attorney caseloads that researchers describe as unprecedented.<\/p>\n One contractor handled approximately 406 felony cases and 187 misdemeanors during 2025. Another managed roughly 365 felonies, 156 misdemeanors and 21 post-conviction matters. Another attorney handled 183 felonies, 79 misdemeanors, 43 post-conviction matters and 15 prison cases in only seven months, which researchers estimated would annualize to approximately 548 cases.<\/p>\n \u201cThe numbers out of Kings\u2026 are actual caseload totals from the data that we were able to aggregate from attorney\u2019s own reporting,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cThose numbers show caseloads that are the worst on record in California.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike institutional public defender offices, Kings County has no staff investigators assigned to its contract attorneys. The report notes a previous review by CalMatters found contract lawyers requested court approval to hire investigators in only about 7 percent of cases over a five-year period.<\/p>\n The report also points to a 2022 review by California\u2019s Office of the State Public Defender that found Kings County attorneys rarely visited incarcerated clients and filed motions challenging police investigations in only 0.6 percent of felony cases. Neighboring Tulare County, which operates a traditional public defender office, filed those motions seven times more frequently.<\/p>\n Researchers also questioned the amount of time some Kings County attorneys devoted to their publicly funded caseloads.<\/p>\n According to attorney time logs, one lawyer handling 406 felonies and 187 misdemeanors averaged only 27.4 hours of work per week, while another attorney responsible for roughly 800 misdemeanor cases averaged approximately 15 hours weekly.<\/p>\n Schwartz said those figures suggest many cases receive only minimal attorney attention.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are Jim Crow-style guilty plea mills,\u201d he said. \u201cThe right to counsel exists in theory, but in practice, it doesn\u2019t exist in places where lawyers are handling 400, 500, 600 cases at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond individual counties, the report argues flat-fee public defense systems produce measurable statewide consequences.<\/p>\n According to the analysis, counties relying exclusively on flat-fee systems spend more than 17 percent more per capita on incarceration than counties operating institutional public defender offices. <\/p>\n Researchers found that 70 percent of California\u2019s exclusively flat-fee counties experienced increases in incarceration over the past decade despite statewide incarceration declining nearly 29 percent. Seven of the eight counties with California\u2019s highest combined jail and prison incarceration rates rely exclusively on flat-fee public defense contracts.<\/p>\n The report further argues California remains an outlier nationally because it provides no consistent state funding for trial-level public defense, spending approximately twice as much on prosecution and roughly 18 times as much on incarceration.<\/p>\n Assemblymember Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, said the findings reinforce the need for Assembly Bill 690, the Fair Representation Act, which would prohibit flat-fee public defense contracts statewide.<\/p>\n \u201cThese shocking caseload numbers underline why I\u2019ve introduced the Fair Representation Act (AB 690), which seeks to end the use of flat-fee contracts for public defense,\u201d Schultz said.<\/p>\n \u201cFlat-fee contracts are a key culprit in our legal system\u2019s failure and it\u2019s time for legislators to end them. Without the time to learn about their clients or prepare their cases, attorneys cannot effectively advocate for them, resulting in needless incarceration, mismatched rehabilitation models, and an overall reduction in public safety. We urgently need to ban a system that only incentivizes these irresponsible caseloads.\u201d<\/p>\n The report also argues that effective public defense has become increasingly important as immigration enforcement expands because relatively minor criminal convictions can trigger detention and deportation proceedings.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot forget the importance of our public defense system in the fight against mass deportation,\u201d said Cyn Yamashiro, principal at The Wren Collective and a longtime California public defense leader.<\/p>\n \u201cSo often lower-level criminal charges lead to ICE detention and deportation, even for those with lawful status. Ensuring our public defense system is up to code is essential to protecting California\u2019s immigrant population.\u201d<\/p>\n The report concludes that while California also needs sustained state funding for public defense offices, eliminating flat-fee contracts represents an essential first step.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia has allowed a Jim Crow system of guilty-plea mills to flourish, where the right to counsel exists only in theory,\u201d the report states. \u201cThe state is simply out of excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n To comment please go to one of these social media platforms:<\/p>\n Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DavisVanguard<\/a><\/p>\n LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/peoples-vanguard-of-davis-inc\/<\/a><\/p>\n Instagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/davisvanguard\/<\/a><\/p>\n X: https:\/\/x.com\/davisvanguard<\/a><\/p>\n Bluesky: https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/vanguardnewsgroup.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe <\/a>to the Vanguard News letters.\u00a0 To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org\/donate<\/a> or give directly through ActBlue<\/a>.\u00a0 Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.<\/p>\n Categories: Breaking News<\/a> Everyday Injustice<\/a> Tags: Criminal Justice Reform<\/a> flat-fee contracts<\/a> Kings County<\/a> Madera County<\/a> Public Defense<\/a> Right to Counsel<\/a>