Washington State's only non-profit appellate public defense office, the Washington Appellate Project, is in danger of closing by the end of 2026 unless Washington State Office of Public Defense and its director, Larry Jefferson, offer them a contract that allows for ethical, effective representation. This is a huge step backward for public defense and puts the right to an appeal from a conviction or from the loss of a child to child welfare proceedings at serious risk. 

The Washington State Constitution guarantees a public defender to represent every person convicted of a crime or who loses custody of their children in a child welfare proceeding. The Office of Public Defense (OPD) gives out contracts for these appeals. The only non-profit organization who represents people on these appeals in Washington State is the Washington Appellate Project (WAP). They carry 40% of the state’s appellate caseload (the other 60% is carried by for-profit attorneys who also contract with OPD).

The Washington Appellate Project has a three-decade history of providing quality appellate public defense to the people of Washington. They pursue every possible avenue of relief for their clients, working cases through the State’s appellate courts and supreme court. Their expertise has meant many of their clients regain their freedom and regain custody of their children. WAP’s attorneys work collaboratively under one roof, they are well positioned to spot patterns of injustice and intervene for broader systemic change. As an example, WAP’s successful cases have abolished the death penalty in Washington State (State v. Gregory) and reduced drug sentences for over 150K people convicted of simple drug possession (State v. Blake). WAP's attorneys have also set precedent against prosecutorial and police misconduct based on race, reduced the use of Legal Financial Obligations, and strengthened the right of Indigenous communities to parent their children.

The Washington Appellate Project receives 100% of their funding from the State, through the Office of Public Defense. The Office of Public Defense is currently proposing an unacceptable funding model for appellate advocacy, which would govern OPD’s contract with WAP. This model would mark a return to an outdated, unethical model abandoned over a decade ago, where instead of funding the office for their yearly costs, OPD only pays the office a flat-rate for each case, regardless of how much work each case entails, and regardless of how long each case takes. This type of model violates the caseload standards recently adopted by the Washington State Supreme Court, and would not allow for effective representation that meets ethical standards required of every lawyer in every case.

The Washington Appellate Project cannot sign on to a new contract that sets their attorneys up to violate their ethical duties and fails their current and future clients. Unless OPD presents a funding model and contract that aligns with the adopted caseload standards and that allows WAP attorneys to meet their ethical obligations, WAP will be forced to close its doors by the end of 2026, putting their clients at risk, drastically increasing the time people will wait to be assigned an appellate attorney, and closing the door to the kind of systemic advocacy WAP has catalyzed. The impact will fall heaviest on poor people - disproportionately, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Please join us in urging Larry Jefferson and OPD to return to good faith negotiations with the Washington Appellate Project so they can continue to provide effective appellate public defense services to the people of Washington!