• Resignations, retirements and people out on family leave have left the Public Defender’s office unable to staff all the courtrooms in the state this summer.
• At the same time, the list of vetted lawyers the state draws on to fill in the gaps is shrinking, as more lawyers decide the time commitment does not make financial sense for them.
• The end result, according to the director of the Roger Williams University School of Law Criminal Defense Clinic, is a reduction in the quality of representation for indigent defendants.

PROVIDENCE — Staff shortages at the Rhode Island Public Defender’s office are leaving courtrooms in Newport and Washington County District Court without coverage this summer, forcing judges to appoint lawyers to represent people who can’t afford to hire their own attorney.

The staffing crisis comes as some of the state’s most skilled lawyers are dropping off the lists of the court-appointed lawyers the courts rely on, citing low rates paid by the state for taking on these cases and the time involved in representing indigent clients.

Collin Geiselman, who was sworn in in June as the state’s top public defender, said that due to resignations, retirements and people out on family leave, the Public Defender’s office was left unable to physically staff all the courtrooms in the state.

“This became an issue of bodies and staffing. … We didn’t have enough bodies,” he said.

The office is currently down nine lawyers out of 54, with five positions in the process of...

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