PORT TOWNSEND – A mammoth caseload has prompted Jefferson Associated Counsel – the county’s contracted lawyers who represent low-income defendants – to refuse to take any more District Court cases.
The group’s three-year contract, which expires at the end of the year, says that Jefferson Associated Counsel should take no more than 510 District Court cases annually.
As of Nov. 30, when the three-lawyer agency officially stopped taking District Court cases, its 2007 caseload amounted to 983. That’s 473 more cases than the contract specifies.
“There are not enough attorneys here to do the work,” said Richard Davies, who devotes 30 hours per week to the county-contracted cases.
Director Ben Critchlow, who was unavailable for comment this week, works 20 hours a week on low-income cases, while attorney Scott Charlton works 40 hours per week on county-contracted services.
“We’re getting to the point where our clients aren’t getting the services they are entitled to,” Davies said.
The situation is vastly different in Superior Court. Jefferson Associated Counsel has taken only 361 Superior Court cases of the 428 called for in the contract.
