Washington State

Structure - In Washington, the responsibility for the design and administration of the trial level indigent defense system is left to the counties. Most of the counties employ contract systems and many of these contracts provide a flat fee for taking all the indigent defense cases that arise. Moreover, many of these contracts are awarded on the basis of cost. The state passed legislation in 1989 requiring the counties to establish standards for their indigent defense systems, but most of the counties have never done so.

Appellate indigent defense services in Washington State are handled by the Office of Indigent Defense.

Funding - In Washington, the majority of funding for indigent defense comes from the counties. Appellate costs are paid by the state.


National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
1660 L St., NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 872-8600 • Fax (202) 872-8690 • assist@nacdl.org