Education and Training
Mission Statement
WDA sponsors education and training programs related to indigent defense. Training sessions are held throughout the state and are geared specifically to issues in public defense practice. Tuition is free with membership.
Live Events
Every year, WDA holds an annual conference in early spring, which provides an opportunity to meet defenders throughout the state and is designed for attorneys at all levels of experience to improve their practice.
Each December, WDA sponsors a six hour ethics seminar, which is designed to meet the three year requirement for ethics credits.
WDA sponsors many other in-person training programs throughout the state, all of which can be found on the Upcoming Events page. Please contact us if you are interested in seeing WDA sponsor a particular type of program or if you are interested in participating in planning one.
Webinars and Teleseminars
In addition to live programs, WDA sponsors telephone and web based presentations. WDA generally holds two of these seminars a month. Teleseminars are limited to phone only programs. Webinars are like teleseminars, except that you use your computer to watch and listen to the presentation. These are usually an hour long and are typically held on Fridays at lunchtime.
Past Programs
WDA stores recordings and materials from past programs for viewing for CLE credit and for research. Members may access these programs by clicking here for the 2010 programs, here for the 2009 programs and here for earlier programs. If you are a WDA member and do not yet have an username and password, click here to request one. You may also search the catalog using the "search site" tab in the upper right hand corner of this page.
See the Upcoming Events page for a schedule of upcoming WDA programs and those sponsored by other organizations.
These are direct links to our most live recent programs:
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Three Strikes Forum (1.15.2010)
- Ethics 2009: Misconduct and Ineffective Assistance (12.11.2009)
- Focus On the Child: Successful Appointment and Representation in Dependency Cases (9.24.2009)
- Coping When Your Clients Can't: Effective Representation of Clients with Mental Health Issues
- Their Sole Advocate: Sex Offenses and SVP Cases
- 2009 Defender Conference: Identification, Confessions and Forensic Evidence
- Defending a Domestic Violence Case
A Model for Reducing Recidivism: The San Francisco Public Defender and Reentry Council’s Success
This two part program on the efforts of the San Francisco Public Defender and the San Francisco community on improving re-entry for persons upon completion of their jail sentences is available to the general public. They do not require a WDA membership to attend.
