To provide each client with the highest quality services insuring protection of his or her rights while maintaining dedication to the improvement of the criminal justice system.

We are an independent agency funded by the citizens of Lawrence County, the Indiana Public Defender Commission and the court ordered contributions of our clients.

The roots of the modern right to counsel for a defendant who cannot afford to pay originated right here in Indiana with the Indiana Supreme Court in Webb v.  Baird, (6 Ind. 13) in 1853.  Our Supreme Court recognized a right to an attorney at public expense for an indigent person accused of crime, grounded in "the principles of a civilized society."  Our Supreme Court wrote, "It is not to be thought of in a civilized community for a moment that any citizen put in jeopardy of life or liberty should be debarred of counsel because he is too poor to employ such aid,"  Thus the right to a public defender was born.

On August 3, 2010, the Lawrence County Commissioners passed an ordinance creating the Lawrence County Public Defender Board for the purpose of providing legal representation to indigent defendants and respondents in criminal, juvenile, probation violation, extradition, child support, civil commitments and other proceedings in which a right to counsel has been established by law.  On September 9, 2010, the Board passed a comprehensive plan for the provision of those services and appointed Lorinda Meier Youngcourt as Chief Public Defender and charged her with organizing a public defenders office.  The Lawrence County Public Defender Agency began operating on October 1, 2010.