Welcome

The mission of the Washington State Office of Public Defense (OPD) is "to implement the constitutional and statutory guarantees of counsel and to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of indigent defense services funded by the state... ."  RCW 2.70.005.  Established by the Legislature in 1996, OPD is an independent agency of the judicial branch.

Indigent defense services administered by OPD:

• Appellate Program
• Parents Representation Program
• RCW 71.09 Civil Commitment
• Extraordinary Criminal Justice Costs
• Public Defense Improvement Program
  • Indigency Screening
  • Washington Supreme Court's Standards for Indigent Defense
  • Chapter 10.101 RCW Public Defense Improvement Funds
  • Resources for Juvenile Defense Attorneys
  • Criminal Defense Training Academy
  • Disproportionality Advocacy

OPD cannot provide direct representation of clients, pursuant to RCW 2.70.020.

Featured News: 

COVID-19 Guidance for Public Defense Attorneys, as approved by WSBA 

The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Council on Public Defense has promulgated comments [PDF] on public defense caseloads during COVID-19. This is not a new rule, but rather guidance on existing rules given the current challenging environment and changing patterns of criminal and juvenile filings. For assistance with administration of trial-level public defense services and implementation of the WA Supreme Court’s Standards on Indigent Defense, contact OPD’s Public Defense Improvement Program at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Disproportionality Advocacy

Disproportionality resources to build upon advocacy strategies for using data to show how race impacts various points of a case and case outcomes.