{"id":129621,"date":"2025-08-05T15:16:41","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/05\/hawaii-opens-public-defender-program-to-out-of-state-lawyers\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:16:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:16:41","slug":"hawaii-opens-public-defender-program-to-out-of-state-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/05\/hawaii-opens-public-defender-program-to-out-of-state-lawyers\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii Opens Public Defender Program To Out-Of-State Lawyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you committed to providing legal counsel to those in need? Are you okay with the risk of unexpected tsunami warnings? If you\u2019re looking for a change of pace and place, Hawaii might be worth checking out. Some outspoken locals have been pretty vocal about out-of-towners going to Hawaii for tourism or housing<\/a>, but there\u2019s at least one area where they could use some extra sets of hands. Things have gotten so bad that some people have been waiting months to be appointed a lawyer:<\/p>\n

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\n
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People are waiting months to get appointed a Public Defender on Hawaii’s Kona Island. <\/p>\n

Public Defenders are carrying 300+ cases at a time, and the office refused to take 150 cases over 1 year<\/p>\n

But there’s not enough contract lawyers to take the cases. https:\/\/t.co\/Vd09a4KabF<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Public Defenseless Podcast (@PDefenselessPod) May 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In response to a dire need for public defense lawyers, the state is welcoming out-of-state defense attorneys to lend their services. ABA Journal<\/a> has coverage: <\/p>\n

\n

Lawyers can work on criminal matters in Hawaii on behalf of government agencies without law licenses in the state as part of a two-year pilot program that begins Aug. 14.
\u2026
The order applies to lawyers in good standing with active law licenses in other states who graduated from ABA-accredited law schools. They can apply for limited admission to work for the Hawaii public defender\u2019s office, the Hawaii attorney general\u2019s office or county prosecution offices.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hawaii is far from the only state to deal with the public defender crisis; the nationwide labor shortage has the few PDs so overworked to the point that it has become a constitutional crisis. And while the hours and gravitas of the position takes a toll, having a nice beach to recuperate on when you finally have the time to relax is one hell of a job perk. Since they\u2019ve extended the invitation for out-of-state attorneys to apply, they\u2019ve gotten a record number of applicants. If you\u2019re interested, now would be the time to apply! <\/p>\n

Hawaii Welcomes Out-Of-State Lawyers Who Want To Work As Public Defenders, Prosecutors Without State Licenses<\/a> [ABA Journal]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Public Defender Schedules Are So Swamped It Probably Isn\u2019t Constitutional<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Hawaii Opens Public Defender Program To Out-Of-State Lawyers<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Are you committed to providing legal counsel to those in need? Are you okay with the risk of unexpected tsunami warnings? If you\u2019re looking for a change of pace and place, Hawaii might be worth checking out. Some outspoken locals have been pretty vocal about out-of-towners going to Hawaii for tourism or housing<\/a>, but there\u2019s at least one area where they could use some extra sets of hands. Things have gotten so bad that some people have been waiting months to be appointed a lawyer:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

People are waiting months to get appointed a Public Defender on Hawaii’s Kona Island. <\/p>\n

Public Defenders are carrying 300+ cases at a time, and the office refused to take 150 cases over 1 year<\/p>\n

But there’s not enough contract lawyers to take the cases. https:\/\/t.co\/Vd09a4KabF<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Public Defenseless Podcast (@PDefenselessPod) May 8, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In response to a dire need for public defense lawyers, the state is welcoming out-of-state defense attorneys to lend their services. ABA Journal<\/a> has coverage: <\/p>\n

\n

Lawyers can work on criminal matters in Hawaii on behalf of government agencies without law licenses in the state as part of a two-year pilot program that begins Aug. 14.
\u2026
The order applies to lawyers in good standing with active law licenses in other states who graduated from ABA-accredited law schools. They can apply for limited admission to work for the Hawaii public defender\u2019s office, the Hawaii attorney general\u2019s office or county prosecution offices.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hawaii is far from the only state to deal with the public defender crisis; the nationwide labor shortage has the few PDs so overworked to the point that it has become a constitutional crisis. And while the hours and gravitas of the position takes a toll, having a nice beach to recuperate on when you finally have the time to relax is one hell of a job perk. Since they\u2019ve extended the invitation for out-of-state attorneys to apply, they\u2019ve gotten a record number of applicants. If you\u2019re interested, now would be the time to apply! <\/p>\n

Hawaii Welcomes Out-Of-State Lawyers Who Want To Work As Public Defenders, Prosecutors Without State Licenses<\/a> [ABA Journal]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Public Defender Schedules Are So Swamped It Probably Isn\u2019t Constitutional<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Hawaii Opens Public Defender Program To Out-Of-State Lawyers<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you committed to providing legal counsel to those in need? Are you okay with the risk of unexpected tsunami warnings? If you\u2019re looking for a change of pace and place, Hawaii might be worth checking out. Some outspoken locals have been pretty vocal about out-of-towners going to Hawaii for tourism or housing, but there\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Chris-Williams-2025-jQcIJb.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}