Thurston County must hire dozens more attorneys, staff by 2036 to serve poor defendants
Thurston County may need to hire 53 new defense attorneys and support staff to meet new caseload standards set by the Washington state Supreme Court, according to internal projections.
Patrick O’Connor, the county’s Public Defense Director, shared that figure with the Board of County Commissioners during a Aug. 13 meeting.
The figure includes 35 full-time equivalent (FTE) defense attorney positions and 18 FTE support staff positions. Filling these positions will cost the county about $13.7 million over five years, according to county documents. Despite facing a structural budget gap, the county must meet this cost to comply with a July 9 state Supreme Court order.
The four-page, unanimous order slashed the caseload standards for public defense attorneys who represent poor defendants. This action is expected to provide relief to overworked public defenders who are struggling to provide suitable and equitable counsel to their clients – counsel that these clients have a right to under law.
The court has instructed counties to meet the new rules “as soon as reasonably possible” with at least a 10% reduction in caseloads each year starting in 2026. Full compliance must occur by 2036.
“There’s a myriad of paths to get there, all of which are complicated and expensive, to be candid, but we have to comply with the order,” O’Connor told the Board.
Currently, attorneys are expected to take on a maximum of 150 felony cases, 400 misdemeanor cases, 250 juvenile cases or 250 civil commitment cases a year.
Under the new standards, these attorneys can take on no more than 47 felony cases, 120 misdemeanor cases, 47 juvenile cases, 120 misdemeanor juvenile cases and 250 civil commitment cases a year.
O’Connor previously told The Olympian his attorneys are working close to the current maximum number of allowable cases. As a result, many attorneys are working overtime and suffering from burnout, he said.
“That’s what really has driven unbelievably talented, dedicated defenders out of the profession,” O’Connor said earlier this summer. “It’s just not sustainable.”
On Aug. 13, O’Connor recommended the county fully comply with the order in five years rather than 10 years.
“What I’m recommending is, I think, a reasonable plan, but also one that keeps us market competitive,” O’Connor said.
County Manager Leonard Hernandez said other counties already have started trying to hire away Thurston County’s attorneys.
“We have up to 10 years, but the longer we take, the more the already strained market that you’re highlighting will be depleted,” Hernandez said.
Larger counties, such as King and Snohomish counties, have begun advertising that they intend to comply within three years, O’Connor said.
“I’ve had at least three of my trial attorneys reach out to me that they’ve been recruited by King County through LinkedIn to join,” O’Connor said. “They’ve turned them down, but it’s just a hyper competitive market.”
While there is a widely known workforce shortage, O’Connor said he actively recruits at universities and the new standards should prove attractive to recruits, especially people from other states that do not have such low caseload standards.
“We’ve hired at least three attorneys off the top of my head in the past couple years from out of state,” O’Connor said. “This is news that is a national headline for public defenders.”
Additionally, the new standards should help the county keep its current attorneys.
“We’ve lost probably 10 attorneys in the past three to five years,” O’Connor said. “In my exit interviews, their number one reason for leaving wasn’t culture, morale or pay, it was caseloads.”
He said many attorneys have been hanging on with the hope of reduced caseloads becoming standard sooner rather than later.
The county’s Public Defense department currently has just shy of 60 total FTEs, according to the county budget. He previously said he has 25 trial attorneys and no vacancies.
The projections O’Connor shared are based on two years of data and assume salaries and benefits at the top range of expected cost-of-living adjustments. He cautioned that the numbers may change.
“I do think that the best approach here is to take this biennium by biennium, but choosing a path that can be altered, biennium by biennium, based on workloads,” O’Connor said. “And I’m hoping those workloads decrease. I’m hoping that our projection now for a five year and 10 year is high because caseloads have decreased.”
Hernandez said O’Connor is cognizant of the county’s budget deficit and his office has crafted a modest proposal.
“I appreciate his sensitivity to the fiscal condition of the county, and he is, from my perspective, in the conversations and emails, is wrestling with the fact of the timing and where we are at,” Hernandez said. “So, I just want to state that because I know that, being a modest person, he wouldn’t state that for himself.”
O’Connor said his office has submitted a budget request with the five-year plan as a placeholder. The county will approve a new biennium budget in December.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 5:09 AM.
