The MDefenders Public Defender Training Institute is an intensive immersion into the world of indigent defense. Taught by University of Michigan faculty who are current or former public defenders (aided by MDefenders alumni who currently work as public defenders), the Institute:
- helps students understand what calls people to do this kind of work
- trains them to be excellent, client-centered, zealous advocates for their clients
- gives them skills to avoid burnout and sustain themselves in a public defense career
- introduces them to a community of like-minded students and future defender colleagues
- teaches them how to raise the level of representation wherever they go and effectuate systematic and individualized change for their clients
About the Public Defender Training Institute
The Institute is a four-credit program that kicks off with a three-day intensive retreat at the law school in the fall. After the retreat, participants will meet each week for the remainder of the Institute to continue their training.
Enrollment in the Institute is limited to 2L and 3L students. But interested MDefenders members (including 1L members) who are not enrolled are still permitted to audit the Institute sessions room space permitting. Although they will not be called on and will not participate in the simulations, there is still much that they can learn from observing the sessions.
In the first half of the Institute, students learn about the role of the public defender, different kinds of public defender work, how public defenders differ from prosecutors and private defense attorneys, how to incorporate social science into their advocacy, how to address implicit and explicit racial bias in the system, and how to handle the challenges that public defenders face (including excessive caseloads, secondary trauma, and ethical issues). The Institute also trains students on effective pre-trial preparation including skills related to client interviewing, investigation, taking witness statements, obtaining discovery, storytelling and persuasion, preliminary hearings, and developing a theory of the case.
During the second half of the Institute, students learn about plea bargaining, evidence, motions practice, jury selection, and trial advocacy (openings, direct examinations, cross examinations, closings, and sentencing hearings).
2L and 3L students interested in enrolling in the Institute (or obtaining access to the reading assignments and training materials), should email [email protected].
1L, 2L, and 3L students who are interested in auditing the Institute’s sessions (which means watching but not participating) may come to any events they would like to observe. If you are a current student interested in observing, please email [email protected].
Sample Curriculum
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Three-Day Intensive Weekend Retreat
Day One
- 8:30 – 10 a.m. – The Role of the Public Defender
- 10 – 10:15 a.m – Break
- 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – What Does it Mean to be Client–Centered and How to Reconcile that with the Rules of Professional Responsibility in Individual Cases?
- 12:15 – 1:15 p.m. – Lunch
- 1:15 – 3:15 p.m. – White Saviors, Implicit Bias, and the Importance of Addressing Race as a Public Defender
- 3:15 – 3:30 p.m. – Break
- 3:30 – 3:45 p.m. – Discussion of How to Use Checklists to Improve Your Practice
- 3:45 – 5:15 p.m. – Client versus Cause Lawyering and Culture in Public Defender Offices: Finding the Right Office, Handling Volume, and How to Change Culture
- 5:15 – 5:30 p.m. – Break
- 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. – Panel on Why We Do This Kind of Work
Day Two
- 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. – Client Interviewing
- 10:30 – 10:45 a.m. – Break
- 10:45 a.m. – 12 p.m. – How to be Client–Centered When the Client is Mentally Ill or Disabled
- 12 – 1 p.m. – Lunch
- 1 – 4 p.m. – Bond Review Hearings
- 4 – 4:15 p.m. – Break
- 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. – Secondary Trauma, Moral Injury, and Self–Care
Day Three
- 8:30 – 11:45 a.m. – Initial Appearances
- 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. – Lunch
- 12:45 – 2:45 p.m. – Storytelling and Persuasion
- 2:45 – 3 p.m. – Break
- 3 – 4 p.m. – Storytelling and Persuasion Workshops (Part One)
- 4 – 4:15 p.m. – Break
- 4:15 – 6:15 p.m. – Storytelling and Persuasion Workshops (Part Two)
- 6:15 p.m. – Concluding Remarks
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Post-Retreat Sessions: Pre-Trial Advocacy (2 hrs per session)
- Incorporating Social Science into Criminal Defense and Investigations Introduction
- Investigations Simulation and Witness Statement Introduction
- Witness Statements Simulation and Self Care Check-In
- Preliminary Hearings Introduction and Self-Care: Third Thing
- Preliminary Hearing Simulation and Skills/Growth Assessment
- Discovery and Brady Introduction and Self Care: Boundaries and Transitions
- Discovery and Brady Simulations
- Introduction to Defense Theory and Theme and Self-Care: Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise
- Defense Theory and Theme Simulation
- Motions/Objections Introduction and Simulation
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Post-Retreat Sessions: Trial Advocacy (2 hrs per session)
- Mid-Year Check-In, Plea Negotiations Introduction and Having Difficult Conversations Exercise
- Plea Negotiations Simulation and Introduction to Voir Dire
- Voir Dire Simulation
- Opening Statement Introduction and Organizing Your Caseload Conversation
- Opening Statement Simulation and Self Care Check-In
- Direct Examination Introduction and Self-Care: Gratitude
- Direct Examination Simulation
- Cross-Examination Introduction and Self-Care: Resilient Thinking
- Cross-Examination Simulation
- Closing Argument Introduction and Self-Care Conversation: Supervisors
- Closing Argument Simulation; Introduction to Sentencing and Collateral Consequences; Self-Care Check-In
- Sentencing Simulation
- Reflections, Wellness, and Moving Forward