How Oregon’s public defense crisis could become a

direct tax on lawyers

https://stephanievolin.medium.com/how-oregons-public-defense-crisis-could-
become-a-direct-tax-on-lawyers-c25b10d755a3

Stephanie Volin

Bad news for Oregon’s legal community: At a recent

public Bar meeting, a representative of the agency
casually indicated that there were a lot of malpractice
claims rolling in from victims of inadequate public
defense — due not only to the statewide shortage of such
lawyers, but also to the apparent incompetence of those
who rushed in to help with the caseload.
The message was quite clear: Those attorneys are doing
a bad job.
Oregon’s public defense shortfall — actually the state’s
constitutional crisis — made national news last year when
the American Bar Association issued a report asserting
that there were less than a third of the needed public
defense attorneys to provide “adequate representation”
to Oregon’s indigent criminal defendants.¹
After being confronted with that report, former Supreme
Court Chief Justice Martha Walters’ big idea was to ask
everyone to grab a mop, even if they did “not have the
experience necessary” for such work. And now we see
that the crisis actually worsened under her leadership.
This is now poised to become an effective tax on
attorneys: Oregon is the only state with mandatory
malpractice insurance, but it’s operated by the Oregon
State Bar, and funded entirely by Oregon lawyers.
When more malpractice claims are filed and paid out—
due to attorneys working outside of their area of
expertise — it will lead to higher insurance premiums.
The Bar’s barely-legal insurance scheme is already wildly
overpriced and not at all competitive with the free
market. An influx of inadequate-public-defense-related
claims could provide the tipping point to push
sentiment against the agency, and possibly even provide
a basis for an antitrust suit.
I heard this news at the April 14th Oregon State Bar (OSB)
Board of Governors (BOG) meeting — the first BOG
meeting I’ve ever attended. The Bar official was likely
Megan Livermore, the CEO of their insurance company,
the PLF.²
The meeting minutes make no mention of this bombshell,
but I can attest that the news briefly stunned the group
into silence. I would love to upload the clip, but the Bar
has claimed that it does not record its public meetings.
My delay in reporting this news was due entirely to the
time I spent urging Oregon Public Broadcasting to write
about it, as a continuation of their series of excellent
reporting on the crisis.

¹ According to the Sixth Amendment Center, “the right to

counsel means every person who is accused of a crime is
entitled to have an attorney provided at government
expense,” and the attorney must be effective, not just “a
warm body with a bar card.”
² The meeting was held in person and via Zoom. It was
difficult at times for a remote attendee like myself to
identify who was speaking.

Is Oregon poised to retaliate against whistleblower

Stephen Singer, again?
https://stephanievolin.medium.com/is-oregon-poised-to-retaliate-against-
whistleblower-stephen-singer-again-6b45f5863cd0
Stephanie Volin

As significant statutory changes to Oregon’s inadequate

public defense system make their way through the
legislature and onto the governor’s desk, it’s important to
track the progress of the lawsuit filed last fall
by improperly-fired Office of Public Defense Services
Executive Director Stephen Singer.
Singer’s complaint about his mistreatment apparently
caused the downfall of Oregon Supreme Court Chief
Justice Martha Walters, while it simultaneously lit a fire
under other elected officials, who had for years sat back
and allowed the state to shirk its constitutional
responsibilities to poor defendants.
The suit is going about as well as can be expected for a
well-regarded outsider who was tasked with fixing a
broken, bloated, and wasteful system, and who ended up
becoming the target of Walter’s abuse of authority and
whistleblower retaliation, among other things.
Unsurprisingly, recent filings in the court case show that
the state seeks to potentially heap more abuse of
authority and retaliation upon Singer — this time by the
Department of Justice and the Attorney General.
This revelation came
in arguments and counterarguments for specific wording
in a protective order in the matter. Specifically, the DOJ
wants permission to “use or disclose” any confidential
information it obtains about Singer or others “for
legitimate law enforcement purposes.”¹
Singer’s attorney contends that such an order “would
expose him and perhaps his loved ones to an
unreasonable risk of unwarranted, and perhaps
retaliatory, criminal investigation.”
Further, that “risk of surveillance and potential criminal
prosecution” would likely have “a chilling effect” on
whistleblowers “who file complaints against their state
employer.”
The DOJ attorney justified its language as essentially
boilerplate and consistent with its protective orders
entered elsewhere. However, that claim was asserted
through clenched teeth, with a warning to the court not
to “interfere” with the DOJ’s duties, nor “contradict the
Oregon DOJ’s statutory obligation.”
Singer’s counsel countered that those assertions were
“alarming” and “simply wrong,” and pointed to several
instances in which the courts had struck such language
from other protective orders.
Given the DOJ’s and AG’s abysmal track record
of retaliation and terrible decision-making, the court
should absolutely err on the side of protecting Singer, the
whistleblowing plaintiff.
A far better use of the DOJ’s time would be to look into
why so many people are set on protecting the status quo
of the financially bloated yet constitutionally inadequate
public defense system, which lacks almost any means of
tracking cases and dollars, and which just cost a chief
justice her job.

¹ There was no mention of whether the DOJ would seek

permission for illegitimate law enforcement purposes.
Seriously, the DOJ’s inclusion of the word “legitimate” in
their protective order draws attention to itself.
Settlement Reached in Whistleblower Retaliation Suit
Improperly fired Oregon OPDS Executive Director Stephen Singer to be paid
$380,000

https://stephanievolin.medium.com/settlement-reached-in-whistleblower-
retaliation-suit-35926acd63fb
Stephanie Volin

The public whistleblower lawsuit filed late last year by Stephen Singer —

the wrongfully terminated Executive Director of Oregon’s beleaguered Office of
Public Defense Services — has apparently been settled, as first reported yesterday
in the Oregonian.
Singer’s attorneys had asked for more than $2.4 million in damages for his
mistreatment, in a complaint that meticulously chronicled the abuse of authority
by former Chief Justice Martha Walters which led directly to his firing.
Reached through his attorney, Singer stated,
“Every significant development regarding public defense in Oregon since my
wrongful discharge reaffirms this: the number of unrepresented defendants in
state custody has increased over eightfold, even as Oregon increases spending on
public defense; the Public Defense Commission has been restructured to remove
unchecked power from the Chief Justice, making it impossible for another director
to be fired the way I was.
I believe that the current OPDS director is a thoughtful and experienced leader.
Nevertheless, fundamental structural change to Oregon’s system of public
defense is the only thing that will improve the circumstances of the thousands of
Oregonians who face criminal charges but cannot afford a lawyer. I sincerely hope
that my lawsuit has drawn attention to this crisis and can be a small step towards
the change that Oregon so desperately needs.”
Attorney Ashlee Albies had strong words for Walters — who retired within days of
the filing of Singer’s lawsuit — but also for the commission chair Per Ramfjord, and
State Court Administrator Nancy Cozine. Cozine previously held Singer’s job and
despite her failure at it, was included in OPDS commission meetings by Walters.
Albies stated,
“The payment of $380k by the State to Mr. Singer reflects what happened in this
case: last August, then Chief Justice Martha Walters, in concert with Public
Defense Commission Chair Per Ramfjord, wrongfully terminated Steve Singer as
director of OPDS in retaliation for his raising concerns about the unconstitutional
and wasteful public defense system that he was hired to reform. Mr. Singer, a
nationally recognized expert in public defense, was forced out because he refused
to kowtow to Martha Walter’s and her State Court Administrator Nancy Cozine’s
demands for how to fix the problems they created by years of undercompensating
public defense attorneys and attempting to appoint unqualified attorneys.”
Just last month Singer appeared positioned to face additional retaliation from
Oregon related to the lawsuit. Specifically, the Oregon Department of Justice
wanted permission to “use or disclose” any confidential information it obtained
about Singer or others “for legitimate law enforcement purposes.”
The DOJ has now agreed to pay Singer more than a year-and-a-half’s salary for
his trouble, but also to give Singer a “neutral job reference,” according to the
Oregonian’s report.
All because Martha Walters didn’t like Singer’s tone — and because he
wouldn’t praise her for her ridiculous plan to send in law students, retirees,
and other miscellaneous unqualified volunteers to make up for Oregon’s
public defense shortfall.
Her plan was not just laughable, it was unconstitutional.

Former Oregon public defense leader files lawsuit over

firing

By Conrad Wilson (OPB)
Oct. 11, 2022 11:58 a.m.
Stephen Singer says his firing violated state laws designed to
protect whistleblowers and charged the head of the Oregon
Supreme Court with violating her authority under state law
The former head of Oregon’s public defense system, who was fired in August after
just eight months on the job, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state claiming he
was a whistleblower who faced retaliation and that his dismissal violated state law.
In a complaint filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Stephen Singer, the former
executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services, states he reported to
his superiors “the unconstitutional, illegal, and unethical state of public defense in
Oregon” as well efforts by the Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters to
“manage public-defense services in violation” of state law.
In his lawsuit, Singer is seeking $2.4 million in damages. The complaint names
both the state of Oregon as well as the Public Defense Services Commission,
which voted to fire Singer in August, as defendants.

Steve Singer, executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services, was fired
on Aug. 18, 2022.
Screen shot
For much of the past year, the shortage of attorneys has left the public defense
system in crisis. As of Tuesday, the state had failed to provide attorneys for more
than 800 people charged with crimes, a requirement under the constitution,
according to data from the Oregon Judicial Department.
Oregon’s public defense system is overseen by the Public Defense Services
Commission, whose members are appointed solely by the chief justice. The
commission oversees the Office of Public Defense Services and its director. Under
state law, “the commission and employees of the commission are not subject to
the exercise of administrative authority and supervision by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court as the administrative head of the Judicial Department.”
In his 35-page complaint, Singer contends Walters exceeded her authority. Like
prosecutors and judges, public defenders are supposed to be independent to
ensure criminal defendants are treated fairly.
“During his eight-month tenure as Executive Director, Singer pushed back against
the Chief Justice’s attempts to increase public-defender workloads beyond
Constitutional bounds, to appoint obviously unqualified attorneys to represent
indigent defendants, and to meddle in the day-to-day affairs of public defense in
Oregon,” the lawsuit states.
The Oregon Judicial Department, which Walters oversees, declined to discuss the
lawsuit.
“Given that it’s a pending case, we don’t have a comment,” Todd Sprague, the
spokesperson for the department, wrote in an email.
A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice, which typically defends the
state in court, said the agency was reviewing the complaint.
Singer’s dismissal was the culmination of a dramatic two weeks in August.
On Aug. 10, Walters called on commissioners to fire Singer. But when they did not,
Walters dismissed the entire commission, setting off an extraordinary series of
events. Days later, she announced a new commission composed largely of people
who voted to fire Singer, or were new. On Aug. 18, the new commission met, and
voted 6-2, to remove Singer.
The lawsuit chronicles, in detail, Singer’s perspective during his brief tenure
running the Office of Public Defense Services.
Singer began in January and contends in the lawsuit that after just weeks on the
job he was facing a shortage of attorneys that the Public Defense Services
Commission “knew about but had not alerted him to.”
At the meeting where Singer was fired, Per Ramfjord, the chair of the commission,
said he had discussed the issue with Singer.
“I also had discussions with him about the unrepresented defendant issue very
early on,” Ramfjord said.

The lawsuit also describes a meeting on Feb. 4, after Walters emailed the entire
state bar seeking attorneys willing to take on indigent clients.
“The Chief Justice delivered a roughly 35-minutes tirade against Singer,” the
lawsuit alleges. “Throughout the monologue, the Chief Justice demanded that
Singer fix the problem of unrepresented defendants immediately.”
On April 22, Singer addressed a meeting of judges and court administrators in
Eugene. The chief justice and state court administrator Nancy Cozine asked Singer
to address the issue of unrepresented clients and “speak generally” about
changes at the Office of Public Defense Services, the lawsuit states.
“During Singer’s presentation, the Chief Justice repeatedly stood up and
interrupted him, asked him to redirect his presentation entirely to the
unrepresented-defendant problem, questioned and interrupted Singer when he
attempted to discuss the need for overall systemic reform and was dismissive of
Singer’s discussion of the complexity of the issues,” the lawsuit states. “At one
point, the Chief Justice got up from her seat at a table in the audience and
physically ripped the microphone from Signer’s hand to change an answer that he
was giving to a judge’s question.”
The lawsuit also notes efforts by Walters and Cozine to “directly manage the
public defense system.” Singer told Ramfjord that Walter and Cozine requested
current caseloads for attorneys at two nonprofit public defense firms.
“I understand where this is going. It is a bridge too far for me,” Singer wrote to
Ramfjord, the lawsuit states. “If Nancy [Cozine] and the C.J. want to run the public
defense system they are welcome to apply for my job... But they can’t run public
defense from their current positions. It’s a conflict of interest and it crosses the
line.”
During a meeting on April 28 between Cozine, Singer, Ramfjord and the chief
justice, Walters brought up the caseloads for attorneys with Singer.
“Singer told the Chief Justice that she and Cozine needed to say in their lane,” the
lawsuit states. “Throughout the conversation, Singer’s tone was forceful and his
comments direct.”
After the meeting, Ramfjord told Singer in a text message, which OPB obtained via
a public records request:
“Your outburst at the Chief Justice and Nancy was, to my mind, completely
unjustified,” Ramfjord wrote. “I have never seen either the Chief or Nancy show
you anything remotely close to the level of disrespect you showed them ... you
asked me to be blunt with you and from my perspective, your reaction was out-of-
line, plain and simple. I also don’t know how you can expect to work with them in
the future or get their support without addressing what seems to me to be a giant
rift.”
Several weeks later, Ramfjord helped set up a meeting between Singer and
Walters, according to messages OPB obtained via a records request.
“I talked to the chief,” Ramfjord wrote on May 11 to Singer. “She understands that
you want to say what you have to say in your own words and is willing to meet with
you alone. Just to be clear, however, she is expecting some form of apology. I
hope it all goes well.”
Singer replied that he would apologize, “right out of the gate.” According to the
lawsuit, Singer and Walters met in her judicial chambers in Salem for more than
three hours on May 12. While he apologized, Singer also said he “needed
independence to function properly,” the lawsuit states.
When Singer said that they both needed to stay in their own lanes for the system
to work, Walters appeared angry, the suit notes.
“‘I am the Chief Justice of Oregon,’” she said, according to the lawsuit. “‘I don’t
have any lanes.’”
By the time he was fired, Singer had developed a reputation with state lawmakers
and the judiciary as an outspoken advocate whose abrasive style clashed with
Walters and others.
“The Chief Justice’s reasons for firing Singer highlight why independent public
defense is so important in the first place,” the lawsuit states.
Charlie Gerstein, Singer’s attorney, said it’s not just why the commission fired
Singer, but also how.
“By dissolving an independent commission that was created to protect the
independence of the executive director of the public defense system in Oregon,”
Gerstein said. “This is the kind of thing you’d expect of Donald Trump or Richard
Nixon, not the chief justice of the state.”

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/10/11/oregon-public-
defense-services-executive-director-steve-singer-
lawsuit/
Oregon commission picks new director to lead troubled public
defense agency

By Conrad Wilson (OPB)
Oct. 13, 2022 6:14 p.m.
Jessica Kampfe, who heads a public defense nonprofit in Portland, would
take over a state agency that has left hundreds without attorneys
Oregon’s Public Defense Services Commission decided Thursday it would move to
hire Jessica Kampfe as executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services,
the state agency responsible for providing attorneys for those charged with crimes
who cannot afford them.
Kampfe currently runs Multnomah Defenders Inc., a public defense nonprofit in
Portland and has more than 15 years either as a public defender or running
nonprofit indigent defense firms in Marion, Washington and Multnomah Counties.
“I plan to accept the job,” Kampfe told OPB late Thursday. “Right now is a really
challenging time for public defense and the provider community.”

Jessica Kampfe is poised to become the new executive director of Oregon's Office
of Public Defense Services after the Public Defense Services Commission voted to
offer her the job on Thursday. Kampfe, a longtime public defense leader, takes
over an agency in crisis.
Courtesy of Multnomah Defenders Inc. / OPB
Indeed, Kampfe will inherit a state agency that’s currently left hundreds of people
without constitutionally-required legal support. On any given day, that includes
dozens of people in custody.
While the shortage of public defenders is the most acute crisis, the agency has
struggled for years. In 2019, a report conducted by the nonpartisan Sixth
Amendment Center found Oregon’s public defense system was so bureaucratic
and structurally flawed that the state couldn’t guarantee clients were getting the
criminal defense they’re entitled to. While some things have changed, many of the
report’s key findings and recommendations have been left untouched.
State lawmakers and the judiciary are revisiting the report as the public defense
system has faltered and has now grown into a full-blown crisis.
“The folks that we serve really need a strong leader who knows public defense
well and who can communicate the values that we hold and the challenges that we
face to people in power so that we can get the resources that we need to serve
our clients,” Kampfe said. “I think I can do that effectively.”
Kampfe was one of two finalists for the executive director position, which she said
she understood to be a two-year position.
Craig Prins, Inspector General with the Oregon Department of Corrections, also
interviewed with the public defense commission. Some public defense providers
lobbied the commission against choosing Prins, arguing his professional
background in corrections and as a prosecutor was ill-suited. Others suggested
the agency should hire both to complement one another.
Prins’ background in state government is something Kampfe acknowledges she
lacks and said she will need to surround herself with people who can help “fill in
those gaps for me.” Kampfe said she was “very open” to working with anyone who
can help.
In August, the public defense commission voted to fire Stephen Singer after just
eight months as executive director of OPDS. On Wednesday, Singer filed a $2.4
million lawsuit arguing his firing violated state law.
Oregon’s public defense system is made up of a largely part-time, contracted
workforce. At the trial level, no public defenders are state employees. Often, there
have been divisions between public defense nonprofits and consortia, private
firms made up of groups of attorneys. At times their policy and political goals are
so different that each faction has its own lobbyist.
“The public defense community needs to be unified and [the Office of Public
Defense Services] needs to be a strong leader in unifying that community,”
Kampfe said, noting divisions cannot deepen.
“It absolutely has to change,” she said. “If we’re not all in this together we’re not
going to be successful.”

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/10/13/oregon-commission-picks-new-director-
to-lead-troubled-public-defense-agency/

Former head of Oregon public defense settles with state for

$380,000

By Conrad Wilson (OPB) and Lillian Mongeau Hughes (OPB)

July 18, 2023 3:51 p.m.
The state has agreed to settle a lawsuit with the former head of Oregon’s public
defense system for $380,000.
In his civil complaint, Stephen Singer stated he was a whistleblower who faced
retaliation and that his dismissal violated Oregon law. Singer was fired last year
after a tumultuous eight-month tenure running the state’s Office of Public Defense
Services.
Even the way he got fired was tumultuous: On Aug. 10, then Oregon Supreme
Court Chief Justice Martha Walters called on commissioners to fire Singer. When
they did not, Walters dismissed the entire commission. Days later, she announced
a new commission composed largely of people who had previously voted to fire
Singer, or were new. On Aug. 18, the new commission met, and voted 6-2, to
remove Singer.

“This settlement is well within the interests of the state to move beyond a difficult
period and for the Public Defense Services Commission to be able to focus its full
attention on the critical and time-sensitive issue of improving the state’s public
defense services system,” said Michael Kron, Special Counsel to Oregon’s
Attorney General.
Many in the legal community felt Signer’s reportedly abrasive style created as
many problems as he tried to solve. But among public defenders working on the
front lines, he had significant support for his efforts to draw attention to a broken
system.
For nearly two years, Oregon’s public defense system has been in crisis, leaving
thousands of people charged with crimes without attorneys. Of those, hundreds
are in jail. Without attorneys to represent defendants, cases cannot move forward.
“The Office of Public Defense Services and the chief justice seemed to blame Mr.
Singer for not fixing this very significant problem quickly enough,” said Singer’s
lawyer Ashlee Albies. “We have seen it was not a problem with a quick fix. So it
was entirely inappropriate to lay the blame for the crisis at his feet.”
In addition to violating the constitutional rights of the accused, the shortage of
public defenders leaves prosecutors and judges unable to do their jobs. And it
leaves victims without any resolution.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Ashlee
Albies’ last name.

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/18/former-head-oregon-public-defense-
s i n g e r - s e t t l e s - w i t h - s t a t e - f o r - 3 8 0 0 0 0 k /
#:~:text=July%2018%2C%202023%203%3A51,his%20dismissal%20violated%20
Oregon%20law.