Virginia Indigent Defense Commission
Alison Powers is currently the Director of Policy & Education at the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission. Prior to this role, Alison worked as an Assistant Public Defender at Fairfax County Public Defender for seven years. Alison also has experience as a Legal Intern at the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy and Los Angeles County Public Defender. Alison holds a JD from the University of California, Los Angeles - School of Law and a BA in Political Science and Spanish from Emory University.
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Virginia Indigent Defense Commission
The Virginia Indigent Defense Commission (VIDC) was statutorily established in 2004, replacing the Public Defender Commission, to protect the Constitutional right to counsel for people who cannot afford to hire their own lawyer. The VIDC oversees 25 public defender offices and four capital defender offices across Virginia with a central administrative office that certifies attorneys seeking appointments in criminal cases. In addition, the VIDC is responsible for the following: -- Promulgate and enforce the mandatory Standards of Practice for Court-Appointed Counsel in Non-Capital Cases which sets out detailed expectations for attorneys seeking appointments in criminal cases; -- Re-certify attorneys seeking appointments in criminal cases and maintain the certified counsel list; and -- Develop certification training courses. The VIDC strives to provide high quality training to public defender offices and the private court-appointed attorneys to continually improve criminal defense representation to vulnerable citizens of Virginia who are not able to hire an attorney of their choosing. For more information, see VA Code § 19.2-163.01.