Thousands of Oregonians Finally Get Lawyers as Public Defense Plan Slashes Unrepresented Cases by 30%

The number of unrepresented defendants in Oregon courts decreased by 30% over the last 6 months as the Oregon Public Defense Commission’s (OPDC) 12-month plan started delivering results.

OPDC Public Defenders Shrink Number Of Unrepresented Defendants

The work of OPDC’s 12-month plan, including public defense providers, the state-run Trial Division, and special dockets, led to a decrease in the number of unrepresented defendants in Oregon.

The Oregon Judicial Department dashboard shows that, as of Nov. 11, 2,835 defendants were awaiting an attorney, compared with 4,029 on May 1.

The numbers tell the story better than words, here’s how the backlog has changed in just six months:

A visual snapshot shows just how much the backlog has dropped in half a year.

Ken Sanchagrin, OPDC’s interim executive director, confirmed that early indicators suggest the plan’s strategies are improving access to counsel across much of the state.

OPDS’s Ken Sanchagrin said:

“The real credit should go to public defense providers across the state—including our own attorneys here at OPDC—who have been working tirelessly day in and day out to bring down the numbers.”

The OPDC plan, developed to meet Governor Kotek’s expectations, is now entering its sixth month, and several of its strategies are already producing results. These include:

• OPDC’s Trial Division, from its offices in Portland, Salem, Medford, and Oregon City, consisting of 20 public defenders and about two dozen support staff, has taken on over 3,200 cases in 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties since December 2023.
• By partnering with district attorneys and courts in Coos, Jackson, Marion, and Multnomah counties to pilot or create special dockets that aim to resolve cases quickly for defendants with low-level charges, particularly property offenses, OPDC’s Trial Division has given previously unrepresented defendants with low-level charges an opportunity to review and accept a plea offer with a defense attorney by their side.
• Forty-two attorneys have opted to participate in OPDC’s 2025-27 contracts, which started on Oct. 1. OPDC has the option to compensate experienced attorneys for voluntarily taking cases beyond their contractual caseload—up to 15% over the limit—if they have the capacity.
• Four public defense clinical programs in Oregon’s three law schools trained 62 students in the 2024-25 academic year. The programs will continue in the 2025-26 academic year and are expected to handle over 1,000 misdemeanor cases in 2025-27.
• Data to develop policies and allocate resources is now available on an improved dashboard, and the features of the monthly data reports have also been fine-tuned.

The January 2025 snapshot shows just how concentrated the crisis still is in a small group of counties:

In the future, a caseload forecast comparing costs per case and costs per client for different types of providers and cases will be updated with numbers from an October 2025 forecast.

OPDC plans to build on its progress by continuing to collaborate with other key players in the legal industry to ensure that every eligible Oregonian receives timely and effective legal representation.