The Public Defender Project

I'm an investigator for a Public Defender Office in Northern California. I have been at this particular office for approximately 11 years and in those years I have seen some great attorneys come and go through our office doors. Some stick around, moving through the ranks and some start strong but burn out really quickly when they fall prey to the high case loads and sometimes depressing work. The one thing common to all these great defenders of justice is the dedication they share in defending the poor and those that many would consider indefensible. I'm lucky to be able to what I do but I've always wondered what else I could do to help. A common problem in many offices (mine included) is a lack of access to "Trial Clothes." When clients have their trials in front of juries, we are allowed to dress and present them in "non-jail jumpsuit clothing" This means we can put a suit and tie on the men and a nice business suit on the women. It makes a difference to juries deciding our clients fate when they see someone at the defense table who is doing their best to look respectable. A lot of Public Defenders buy clothes for their clients with money out of their own pockets. Shoes, shirts, ties, pants and jackets are always needed and the clothing we have in our existing clothes closets are many times ill fitting, very outdated and mostly just worn out which is why I decided to help out in my own way. ALL proceeds from sales at The Public Defender Project go towards providing and maintaining trial suits and clothing for our indigent clients. The percentage of what we make per sale is not particularly high but at the very least I'm hoping we can help pay for some desperately needed drying cleaning and maybe even some new shirts and ties. New designs are coming, please help any way you can.