MINNESOTA (Minnesota Reformer) – Minnesota public defenders are struggling under heavy caseloads to fulfill their constitutional obligation to represent every person accused of a crime who can’t afford a lawyer, according to a report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor released on Tuesday.
The state’s roughly 600 public defenders represented people in more than 135,000 cases in 2025, ranging from disorderly conduct to murder. That’s 225 cases per lawyer, though caseloads vary based on the seriousness and complexity of cases.
For the entire five-year period analyzed in the evaluation, average caseloads have exceeded state standards meant to ensure attorneys can meet their ethical duty to provide “prompt, competent, and diligent representation.”
What’s more, the Office of the Legislative Auditor found the governing body overseeing public defense still hasn’t updated the state’s caseload standards despite being advised by a similar audit in 2010 that the standards were outdated.
The standards, which were last updated in 1995, don’t take into account the significant increase in material that defense attorneys need to review, such as bodyworn camera footage.
Without an accurate assessment of how much time it takes to represent people accused of various crimes, the governing body that oversees Minnesota public defense cannot effectively estimate the resources it needs and how to deploy them.
The report’s authors stated bluntly the Board of Public Defense “has not provided effective leadership.”
In response to the audit, the board’s leaders noted they established a workgroup that is revising standards. That workgroup was formed two years ago.
While public defenders say caseloads are overwhelming and leading to burnout, the vast majority say they continue to meet their obligations to clients.
More than 80% of public defenders said they were meeting their obligations, though only about half said they could spend sufficient time with their clients and return phone calls within one working day, according to a survey by the Office of the Legislative Auditor.
Caseloads have come down significantly in recent years thanks to a massive infusion of cash from the Democratic-controlled state Legislature in 2023, which increased funding for public defense by $42 million a year — or about 40%.
The additional funding has allowed the state to increase public defense staffing by 22% in recent years, while the number of cases has increased about 14% since 2021.
Attorneys in 5 out of 10 public defense districts did have average caseloads under the state standard in 2025, though many surveyed said their workload was too high.
The budget increase came after a hard-fought campaign by rank-and-file public defenders, who nearly went on strike in 2022 for the first time in state history, decrying high caseloads and low pay compared to prosecutors.
Public defenders, who are unionized with the Teamsters Local 320, negotiated historic pay raises in 2023, ranging from 26% to 72% depending on seniority, which brought them close to parity with prosecutors.
The auditor’s office also found the Board of Public Defense’s resource allocation procedures are outdated, and that it has not adequately evaluated key leaders’ performance. Auditors report that the board has not set performance measures even after the Office of the Legislative Auditor advised it to do so in 2010.
That will not surprise rank-and-file public defenders. The board reappointed State Public Defender Bill Ward in 2022 after an overwhelming vote of no confidence by public defenders.
Board leaders said they would examine how they evaluate the state public defender and noted a new one starts next month.
The report found managers completed “very few” performance evaluations as required, which managers attributed to their own high caseloads limiting their ability to carry out their supervisory duties.
The board’s leaders took issue with the recommendation to determine the proper balance of caseloads and supervisory responsibilities for managers, noting they already have standards but they’re difficult to meet at current funding levels.
“We are deserving and needing of a large funding increase,” Ward told lawmakers after the report was presented on Tuesday, pointing to funding cuts during the Great Recession nearly two decades ago.
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