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Montgomery County is significantly expanding its public defender’s office to bring it into line with national staffing standards.

Pennsylvania’s third-largest county wants to hire 15 new public defenders, an assistant director of mental health services, administrative assistants and a social worker.

“Our goal with this effort was to ensure that we are adequately staffing our public defender position and providing equitable defense for those in need to those in the community who need it,” said Commissioner Jamila Winder.

The American Bar Association and the National Center for State Courts released the National Public Defense Workload Study in September 2023, which highlighted the widespread problem of excessive caseloads on public defenders.

Paul Heaton, academic director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Carey Law Center, is chairman of Montgomery County’s Public Defender Advisory Board. He has released a report on caseloads in offices across the state.

He noted that 60 of Pennsylvania’s 66 counties have staffing levels below constitutional norms. Montgomery County’s chief public defender, Christine Lora, said the attorneys in her office are overworked.

“From the client’s perspective, you’re obviously worried about an unmanageable caseload because the lawyer has to focus on the clients,” Lora said.

High caseloads can worsen staff burnout. She used the data to make the case for increased staffing. District leadership listened. Lora called it a “game-changing change.”

“We work together as an office to make sure none of our clients fall through the cracks. But imagine how much easier that would be if we reduced the caseload of individual lawyers,” Lora said.

About 50 people in Montgomery County’s public defender’s office are attorneys. The Montgomery County Salary Committee, which consists of the three county commissioners in their first terms and the county controller, voted unanimously Thursday to increase that number by 30%.

“This is a bold step toward innovation, and we are putting our words into action to create real change – especially in communities that have historically been marginalized and cannot necessarily afford private legal services,” Winder said.