As I hope you know, OJD is on a mission to recruit attorneys to represent 13 through 17-year-olds charged with first degree murder and facing life without parole. We thank those who have already applied! But if you’re on the fence about applying, we thought we’d give you ten reasons to consider joining us:
You get paid the same as in capital cases – $100 an hour.
We won’t overload you, there’s not that many cases per year – data indicates less than 100 juveniles in participating counties are charged, so our goal is no more than one or two cases per attorney at a time.
You can always say no - we know how many of you are taking many cases and respect that you should have the option of turning us down.
We hope to ask you to go only so far from home – our goal is that you would only travel, at most, an hour from your home county to represent someone.
We will support you – please check out our website, blog and listserv for resources, tips, and information about representing these youth.
Required training for the roster is free and online – we require all attorneys on our roster to attend our training, but it is free, and you have the option of joining in person or viewing online.
Payment for your fees will go through IDS – IDS is in the process of developing a database to accept payment requests so that you can get paid monthly for the work you do, without having to file a fee application with the court.
Approval and payment for experts will go through IDS – similar to attorney payments, requests for expert funds and payments to experts will be processed through IDS, much like in capital cases.
The application is reasonably easy, especially if you’re on the capital roster – check it out online, https://www.ncjuveniledefender.com/jfdm-application - if you’re already capital eligible, you can skip some of the sections.
These kids need you – this is difficult, emotionally draining work, but youth facing like in prison need passionate, creative, determined counsel like you to be their voice!
⬇ UPCOMING TRAINING ⬇