Using Checklists to Improve Advocacy

• In Event: Policy Panel: Legal Services for the Indigent – Evaluating Policy Options

Abstract

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi talks about how using high level checklists can help defenders win cases. Applying concepts from Dr. Gawande's book “The Checklist Manifesto” Adachi shows how defenders can to use checklists to improve the quality of representation and case outcomes. The use of checklists can help to meet ethical obligations such as the duty to be diligent and competent, as well as the obligations we have to others in the profession and in the public, beyond our own clients themselves.

Author

• Jeff Adachi, San Francisco Public Defender Office