Louisiana’s State Public Defender Jean Faria Takes Office June 2, 2008

Jean Faria – State Public Defender

On June 2, 2008, Jean Faria was appointed State Public Defender by the Louisiana Public Defender Board. For the past 11 years, Ms. Faria has served as the Assistant Federal Defender for the Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana, in Baton Rouge, LA. From 1995-1997 she was the Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Indigent Defender Board in New Orleans, LA. In that capacity, she designed and implemented indigent defense system programs at the direction of the LIDB, collected and analyzed caseload and financial data; created and administered 7.5 million dollar budget; supervised and directed LIDB staff; functioned as liaison to the Louisiana Supreme Court, legislature, executive counsel, and chief defenders across the state and the country. Prior to that, Ms. Faria worked as a public defender in the 19th JDC Public Defender Office in Baton Rouge.

Ms. Faria received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Massachusetts and received her J.D. from Louisiana State University School of Law in 1983.

Ms. Faria has been active in the public defense reform movement, both locally and nationally, for many years. She is a charter member of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer and long-standing member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. For more than 10 years she served in the Board of Directors of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association and spent significant time as the Chair of the Defender Policy Group within that organization. She was awarded a Fellowship with the American Bar Foundation and serves as the Chair of the Indigent Defense Advisory Group to the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (SCLAID) of the American Bar Association. Ms. Faria regularly lectures at criminal defense trainings and participates in policy research of state public defender systems around the county.