How Technology is Changing the Public Defender's Office
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Intent on improving the lives of people who seek legal services, Publicis Sapient and the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office implemented the most transformative change in the department’s 100+ years of service. The mammoth digital modernization project we completed helps more than 1,000 attorneys and staff provide robust public defense to over a million people in LA County.
Our Mission
Our mission to partner with innovative government organizations to create transformative experiences that empower communities joined perfectly with the client’s aim of reducing the collateral consequences of contact with the criminal justice system. Together, we have helped thousands of indigent people thrive, so far.
The Imperative for Change
The Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office is the largest and oldest established Public Defender Office in the nation. It’s been a beacon for revolutionary changes in the justice system for over a century, but its working processes didn’t match up, with over 26 different archaic data storage and management systems slowing their work. Add to this the fact that the volume and nature of evidence has become more complex in recent years, now including audio and video files exceeding 10TB, and a modern system was urgently needed.
The Transformative Solution
With our overlapping missions top of mind, we designed and implemented an intuitive new CCMS on the Salesforce platform, hosted in the Cloud. Leveraging our data modeling best practices and accelerators, we took a complex legacy data model and simplified it, cleansing and optimizing data to address quality issues.
160 million court case records were able to be enriched and migrated to the new CCMS. The platform was also digitally integrated with legacy court systems to ensure all relevant data was captured and available to attorneys.
The result is one centralized, user-friendly system that enables all 1,200 employees across 32 offices to easily access and manage current and past cases. The attorneys, who each have 40-60 cases at any given time, can be confident in the accuracy and quality of the data and quickly cross check with previous cases. The CCMS also provides data analytics that help guide decisions and policy. All ensuring a better defense for clients across Los Angeles County.
“CCMS will bring us closer to achieving our mission of measurably reducing incarceration and the collateral consequences of contact with the criminal justice system.”
Ricardo Garcia,
LA County Public Defender
The Impact
A new culture has been created within this renowned institution. One in which time can be spent on what really matters – the people in need – rather than trawling manila folders and chasing paperwork. The new CCMS has accelerated case processing, provided a reliable set of administration tools, increased efficiency and reduced costs across the county.
This will all result in the office being able to do more to break the negative cycle of reincarceration and struggle for thousands who can’t afford private attorneys.
But, most importantly, the county has been able to deliver on its holistic vision of helping the community. Staff have the time to talk to clients about their stories, link up with social workers and other county departments like the Juvenile Mental Health Court, and provide support beyond criminal defense.
Exceeded
platform adoption objectives
100M+
records migrated into the new CCMS
1,000+
staff have used the system since launch
10M+
paper-based records digitized and imported into CCMS
200,000+
court cases assigned and managed via the CCMS
Mental health
referrals now being made based on new data analytics
“Prior to working with Publicis Sapient, we had no reliable way of viewing key workload metrics across our various locations and divisions. Now management can use custom screens, reports and dashboards in real-time, empowering them to better allocate staff and resources. It’s made a huge difference to everyone – and our bottom line.”
Mohammed Al Rawi,
Chief Information Officer, LA Public Defender’s Office
Publicis Sapient and Salesforce: Driving connected experiences together through digital business transformation
We help Clients maximize their Salesforce investment by providing unique, differentiated and high-value customer-centric solutions for today, with the scalability and flexibility to meet tomorrow's demand. Our partnership with Salesforce leverages the Publicis Groupe capability hubs—from business strategy and integrated technology to implementation, brand advertising, and creative production—providing Clients with end-to-end, ongoing operational support and strategy across the entire Salesforce suite of products.
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