Welcome to the Maricopa County Office of Public Defense Services
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Who We Are
The Office of Public Defense Services (OPDS) contracts with private attorneys and other service
providers to ensure that indigent individuals assigned to the office by
the Court receive effective legal representation. OPDS assigns attorneys
to every case in which the client cannot be represented by one of the
other County public defense agencies due to legal or ethical conflict,
workload constraints or administrative issues. In fiscal year 2011,
OPDS assigned over 21,700 cases to contract attorneys. OPDS contracts
with attorneys who practice in many areas of the law including: Criminal,
Appeals, Post-conviction Relief, Probate, Mental Health, Family Court,
Juvenile Dependency and Juvenile Delinquency.
Our Mission
The mission of the Office of Public Defense Services is to provide quality
legal representation to indigent individuals assigned by the court, thus
safeguarding the fundamental legal rights of each member of the community.
Our Vision
The vision of the Office of Public Defense Services is to deliver America's promise of Justice
for All.