Lawyer Thomas C. Thomasian, 28, conferring in District Court with a client, routinely puts in more than 60 hours a week with the public defender’s office.

The Providence Journal Mary Murphy

It’s almost 12:45 p.m. on a recent weekday, and Thomas C. Thomasian has already counseled 22 clients on behalf of the state Office of the Public Defender.

Five he visited in lock-up, 11 he negotiated plea deals for; and most he met for the first time that morning. At age 28 and with just four months on the job as an assistant public defender, Thomasian says he’s found his calling. “There’s just a lot of good that can be done here.”

Thomasian, however, would be among the first staff members cut from the public defender’s office if it abides by the budget target already set by Governor Carcieri’s office for the fiscal year that begins next July 1.

That 12-percent reduction would slice the staff by 21, including its most junior lawyers, according to Chief Public Defender John J. Hardiman. Such cutbacks would force the agency to stop representing poor clients facing misdemeanor charges, probation violations and parental-rights cases throughout the state, he says.

Thomasian worked for a law firm representing mortgage companies immediately upon graduating from Roger Williams University School of Law. He now puts in more than 60 hours a week representing poor clients facing misdemeanor charges in Providence, North Providence and East Providence.

“I’d rather be where I can make a difference,” he says. He finds the $52,000-a-year starting salary manageable, despite $110,000 in outstanding school loans.

With idealistic swagger, Thomasian juggles a pile of red folders as he alternately informs clients of their options, listens to their stories and negotiates with prosecutors in District Court, Providence. He is greeted with fist bumps, handshakes and worried grimaces from people of all ages.

Hardiman estimates it would cost the state $5.8 million to hire court-appointed lawyers to handle misdemeanor, probation violation and custody cases, about $4.7 million more than any savings taxpayers would see under the proposed budget cuts.

“It would be a financial catastrophe for the state,” he says.

Carcieri’s spokeswoman, Amy Kempe, noted that Hardiman’s staff had grown almost every year in the past decade, and he now has 91 full-time employees.

The budget office, she said, will work with Hardiman to yield a budget “that meets target and allows the agency to operate by its mission.”

“There will be tough choices that will be made across the board” as the state faces a $357-million shortfall in the current year, she said.

Hardiman hopes for level funding, about $9.3 million, for fiscal 2010. But even so, he says he is contemplating refusing to take on new misdemeanor, violations and custody cases for several months to ease the workload of the 44 lawyers on his staff. “I would be completely justified today to stop taking cases,” Hardiman says.

Created in 1941, the Rhode Island Office of the Public Defender is one of the earliest public defender agencies in the nation. It is required by law to represent needy adults and juveniles who are charged with crimes or who are in jeopardy of losing custody of their children to the state. If the office is unable to represent an individual because of a conflict or other reason, the courts must appoint and pay for a private lawyer from a pool of 90 attorneys.

As with public defenders across the country, the caseload here vastly exceeds national standards set by the American Bar Association. A single public defender — such as Thomasian, who handles as many as 30 clients a day — disposed of 1,517 misdemeanor cases in the last fiscal year, almost four times the 400-case national standard, Hardiman says.

Similarly, public defenders settled about 239 felony cases apiece, 59 percent above the 150-felony national standard. Hardiman estimates his office would need to hire 25 lawyers to meet the standards. “I have an obligation to remain within those limits or violate the ethical code,” he says.

The numbers were even higher in 2007 because of staff vacancies that required the remaining lawyers to shoulder greater loads, Hardiman said.

Offices in at least seven other states are refusing new cases or have filed suit to limit their workload. The public defender in Miami-Dade, Fla., has declined to take lesser felony cases. In Minnesota, the defender stopped handling custody cases.

It would be bad news for Rhode Island courts if the public defenders stop taking cases, a decision that could bring the system to a grinding halt, judicial officials say.

“I was hoping they wouldn’t follow that path,” Superior Court Presiding Justice Joseph F. Rodgers Jr. said.

District Court Chief Judge Albert E. DeRobbio praised public defenders as efficient and committed.

“I just don’t see how we can cut budgets on that type of service,” DeRobbio said. “They need representation and they need representation every step of the way.” He plans to work with Hardiman to make changes to accommodate the office.

The Rhode Island public defender’s office has temporarily declined to represent certain caseloads in the past, including enacting a moratorium on taking misdemeanor, violation and custody cases in Newport County because of vacancies, Hardiman said. “This is a crisis situation for us,” he said.

And crime could climb as the economy sinks and more people turn to drugs and alcohol, according to for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. “Unfortunately crime goes up when states are having a more difficult time paying for [public defenders],” said David J. Carroll, the association’s director of research.

Rhode Island’s defenders can’t afford a heavier workload, in Thomasian’s view.

“Even an attorney with an S on his chest, as in Superman, couldn’t handle that caseload,” he said. “When attorneys try to handle that caseload, mistakes are made.”

It becomes, he says, a public safety issue that could land innocent people in jail and leave criminals on the street.Public defender’s caseload

Each year the average caseloads of disposed felonies and misdemeanors per attorney are significantly higher in Rhode Island than the national average. The national standard caseload is 150 felony cases and 400 misdemeanors.

Year

Average

felony

dispositions

Percentage exceeding

standard

Average

misdemeanor

dispositions

Percentage

exceeding

standard

FY2003

258

72%

1,070

167%

FY2004

234

56%

1,065

166%

FY2005

237

55%

1,304

226%

FY2006

235

57%

1,208

202%

FY2007

294

96%

1,714

329%

FY2008

239

59%

1,517

279%

Source: R.I. Public Defender’s office

kmulvane@projo.com