Georgia Public Defender Standards Council
Public Defender Honors Program

Georgia Public Defender Honors Program

The Georgia Indigent Defense Act of 2003 created the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, an independent agency within the judicial branch of Georgia’s state government. The Council is responsible for ensuring that the public defenders throughout the State of Georgia are properly trained, supported, and supervised. The Standards Council is committed to creating and maintaining the best public defender system in the United States.

Consistent with its vision to ensure that Georgia’s public defenders are the best trained advocates for indigent defendants in the country, the Council established the Georgia Public Defender Honors Program. The GPD Honors Program is a three-year program designed to train lawyers to be the best public defenders nationwide. All participants in the GPD Honors Program will have demonstrated a strong commitment to providing the best possible representation to indigent defendants throughout the state of Georgia. This program will feature intensive and on-going training by some the best attorneys throughout Georgia and the country. At the end of this three-year program, participants will be top candidates for placement in any public defender office throughout the state of Georgia, and will be highly qualified to work at any public defender office at the state or federal level nationwide.

Each fall a new class will begin the GPD Honors program with the inaugural class beginning in August 2005. The class will receive three weeks of intensive training in Mount Vernon, Georgia before being placed in public defender offices throughout the state. Participants will continue to meet as a class at various locations throughout Georgia approximately four weekends a year for continued training. In addition all participants will receive ongoing training through their attendance at an annual public defender conference, an annual week-long trial workshop, and additional training programs throughout the year. Supervision will be provided through one of forty-nine Circuit Defenders throughout the state or a supervising attorney in a local public defender office as well as by the Council staff.

Class of 2006 Application Procedures

For May 2006 Graduates

Review of applications for the 2006 class will begin after February 1, 2006.  Applicants selected to continue with the application process will be notified by March 1 st.  Their applications will then be distributed to Circuit Public Defenders across the state as openings become available.  Circuit Public Defenders will contact those applicants with whom they desire to schedule an interview.  Hiring will be on a rolling basis, as positions for attorneys become available in local public defender offices.  Not all applicants selected to continue with the application process are guaranteed a position, as hiring will be dependent on the staffing needs and preferences of local offices. 

To apply, provide a statement of interest explaining in no more than 500 words, why you wish to participate in the Georgia Public Defender Honors Program.  Send the statement of interest, along with a resume and cover letter indicating when you will sit for the Georgia bar examination to:

Allison Manning
Georgia Public Defender Honors Program
Georgia Public Defender Standards Council
104 Marietta Street, Suite 200
Atlanta, Georgia 30303

For Alumni and December 2005 Graduates

Staff attorney positions become available at varying times during the calendar year in public defender offices throughout Georgia. Therefore, there are opportunities for recent graduates to be accepted into the fall 2006 Honors Program and to be placed in one of these offices as early as January 2006. These attorneys will work in offices throughout Georgia, receiving training along with other attorneys in the statewide public defender system, pending the start of the 2006 Honors Program. To apply as a recent graduate, please follow the same application process set forth above, indicating in your cover letter that you will be available for placement as of January 2006. These applications should be submitted as soon as possible.

• Click here to see a list of frequently asked questions & answers for prospective applicants
• Click here to read excerpts from the class of 2005’s summer training evaluations