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 GPDSC Inaugural Honors Program Training to Begin
Program designed to recruit outstanding public defenders to Georgia  

Atlanta-The Georgia Public Defender Standards Council (GPDSC) will begin training its inaugural Honors Program class on Aug. 21, 2005. Twenty-three recently hired public defenders, representing 17 law schools nationwide, will participate in an intensive, three-week training program at Brewton-Parker College in Montgomery County, GA. Upon completion of this initial training phase of the program, these lawyers will work in public defender offices in 15 judicial circuits throughout Georgia and the Georgia Capital Defender Office.

“The training being provided by the Honors Program at Brewton-Parker College is something that has been needed for new defense attorneys for a number of years,” stated GPDSC’s director Michael Mears.  “Brewton-Parker Professor Sid Johnson has been instrumental in assisting with this project and the Standards Council is very grateful for the partnership with such a fine college.”

GPDSC designed the Honor’s Program to remain consistent with its vision to ensure that Georgia’s public defenders are among the best trained and most committed advocates for indigent defendants in the country. Through this program, GPDSC seeks to attract committed young lawyers to public defender offices throughout Georgia and to train these lawyers to provide the highest quality of representation to indigent citizens charged with criminal offenses. Participants are asked to make a three-year commitment to their respective offices, during which time they will participate in quarterly training events designed for Honors Program participants.

"Being a successful public defender is not about winning all of your cases.  That is not possible.  It is about providing your clients the kind of justice that our Constitution requires, the same kind of justice that wealthy people can pay for,” stated GPDSC’s training director Jon Rapping. “Being a public defender is about going home every night, looking at yourself in the mirror, and honestly saying that you have done everything within your power to provide justice to each and every one of your clients.  The mission of the Honors Program is to train lawyers to be able to do just that."

Brewton-Parker College will provide facilities and other support to assist GPDSC in its mission. GPDSC will bring in a new Honors Program class each year in an effort to incrementally provide this high level of training to Georgia’s public defenders.

GPDSC is an independent agency within the judicial branch of Georgia’s state government that was created pursuant to the Georgia Indigent Defense Act of 2003. The Council is responsible for ensuring that public defenders throughout the state of Georgia are properly trained, supported, and supervised.

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