Why the LA Public Defender's Office shouldn't downplay MALDEF's lawsuit

The present-day Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office dishonors the values the office was founded on: providing fair and adequate legal counsel to the disadvantaged members of our society, and offering opportunities to qualified attorneys regardless of gender or ethnic background.

The Public Defender's Office is the most influential Public Defender in the nation. In 2018, a policy of using standardized tests, subjective criteria used in performance evaluations, unfair weighing of training and experience and the use of a "banding" system was implemented in the department. According to Miguel Rosales' complaint, this new process has produced unequal results for non-white applicants. Rosales has applied multiple times for the next level head deputy position only to be passed over while younger, less qualified applicants moved forward in the process.

Rosales can be described as the kind of person you would want by your side in a dark alley, a lieutenant in the fight for equity, justice and honor in criminal defense. He also stands for everything our father worked for during his entire career at the Public Defender's office.
The concept of an office of the public defender originated from Clara Shortridge Foltz - a single mother of five who became the first female lawyer on the entire west coast. During a period in US History where women were fighting for their right to vote, Foltz authored state bills and an amendment to the California constitution that ensured that women wishing to practice law would not be denied the right based on their gender.

The idea of the office of the public defender came about when, during the course of her practice, Foltz observed many people who lacked sufficient funds to retain counsel, and as a result were unrepresented or underrepresented in criminal cases. After presenting the concept for a public defender system in criminal cases to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, they recognized its value and adopted it in 1913. The following year, the world's first public defender's office opened in Los Angeles County. The Criminal Courts Building in Downtown Los Angeles was renamed in her honor in 2002, during our father's tenure as chief public defender, and arguably during the height of the office of the public defender.

Miguel Rosales was hired by our father, Michael P. Judge, who served as Los Angeles County Public Defender from 1994-2010. Our father was an experienced trial attorney who began his career in the L.A. Public Defender's office in 1969, after receiving his undergraduate and law degrees at UCLA. He tirelessly worked his way up the ranks, gaining valuable experience and insight into the legal system, before being selected Chief Public Defender in 1994.

In 2007, Judge promoted Miguel Rosales to Grade IV, the title he has now held for 14 years. Had our father not retired in 2010, Rosales would have earned another promotion, based on his expertise and commitment to ensuring fair and adequate justice is made available to his clients - values that our father held dear.

Our father did not accept excuses for not assuring that his attorneys were the face of the Los Angeles County community. He was not driven by wanting the spotlight on himself, nor was he thirsty to hear from people how great he was. Rather, he was driven by the need to break down barriers that have kept Latinos, Blacks, other minorities and the poor and disadvantaged down. Michael P. Judge made sure his attorneys were not pitted against one another, and guaranteed them they could all share in the pie and not fight each other for the crumbs.

Keeping with the spirit in which the department was founded, our father helped guide the LACPD to become the largest and most diverse public defender office in the country. Under his leadership, the LACPD stood acclaimed by the ACLU for their large number of clients who avoided death penalty convictions. For years, the LACPD was instrumental in leading legislative advocacy in Sacramento and Washington D.C. Our father's vision led to a successful effort to obtain assistance for student loan repayment, with the idea of granting opportunities to a diverse array of applicants to both prosecutors and defenders offices. These are highly qualified recent graduates who would otherwise fail to pay off their student debt loans while maintaining a living wage. It is this type of legislation that honors the core principles that established the L.A. Public Defender's Office. The LACPD of our father's era was a shining example of what a public-facing service should stand for.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, concerned with the quality of legal representation by the defense in criminal cases across the nation, personally met with our father in a one-on-one meeting that lasted over an hour, followed by a several-hours-long meeting with select members of the public defender's office, where they discussed the most effective methods for delivering the highest quality service to their clients. This is yet another example of the prestige the LACPD once held.

To pigeonhole the potential of Miguel Rosales, a worthy and dedicated advocate for indigent defendants in the largest and oldest Public Defender's Office in our nation, is an affront to Chief Public Defender Michael P Judge's legacy of producing and promoting attorneys delivering high quality service to clients. When underserved community members are in need of criminal defense, their attorney must be trained with the special skills necessary to properly represent a person charged with that particular crime; they must possess the practical experience required to use those skills wisely and be dedicated to providing quality representation for their client. Well-trained and experienced prosecutors and defense attorneys ensure public trust in the legal process, and without those components an increase of wrongful convictions and unfair punishment are sure to follow.

In light of the lawsuit against the LACPD, and looking back on the history of the oldest, largest and most influential public defender's office in the country, one has to wonder what has led the present-day L.A. County Public Defender's Office astray? Where are the core values that once defined this department, that once stood as a shining example of administrative justice for the entire country? What is guiding the present-day L.A. County Public Defender's Office? What is their vision for the future, for criminal justice, or for their clients? Our father built, led and retired from the most diverse law firm in the nation. Thirteen years later, his heart would be broken.

Finally, the last time that MALDEF sued L.A. County was in 1988. Its victory over racial discrimination led to the election of Gloria Molina in 1991, and soon thereafter the election of Yvonne Brathwaite Burke in 1992. Our father would say "MALDEF doesn't file frivolous lawsuits...don't ignore that tap on your shoulder."