Managing Public Defender Workloads Just Got Easier

The City of Aurora, Colorado, Public Defender’s Office provides complete, quality legal representation to indigent defendants, ensuring that in-need clients are properly represented.

Until recently, the office lacked a case management system. That meant handling a lot of work manually, which often ate up too much of the staff’s time. The office also had no way to track staff caseloads, or measure what case types required the most work.

Since implementing LegalServer, however, those problems have evaporated. “The time tracking and report features have been the biggest benefits to the Aurora Public Defender’s office,” says Elizabeth Cadiz, Chief Deputy at Aurora Public Defender. “The timeslips that the administrators were able to build out have allowed the staff to track time they spend on Case Activities, Admin & General Activities, and Preparatory Activities.”

“These categories have allowed the Supervising staff to run reports and understand where staff time is being allocated,” Cadiz notes.

The reports that have been run over the last few months have allowed supervisors to identify caseloads per attorney and understand how the work is being distributed throughout the office as well as how much time is being spent on particular case types.

And when it comes to comparing Aurora’s numbers vs. state standards, LegalServer has that covered, too.

“LegalServer has allowed us to collect time and case data that can be used to compare Aurora’s workload & caseload numbers to Colorado state workload standards,” says Tasha Steward, Chief Deputy at Aurora Public Defender. “This will allow the office to understand if new positions need to be implemented to provide effective legal representation and counsel.”

With a comprehensive case management system in place, Aurora Public Defender has more time to serve clients, and better insight into staff’s time allocation. Book a demo of LegalServer to see how they did it.