What’s New With PDAP

March 19, 2025 – Recruitment is a significant issue for Pennsylvania’s public defense community, as most county Public Defender offices in the state deal with staffing shortages. To combat this problem, PDAP partners with the University of Pittsburgh School of Law for its annual PA Public Defender Career Day: an initiative that connects law students, many of them aspiring Public Defenders, to the county offices that need them the most.

The second annual Career Day took place on February 7, 2025 in a fully remote format. Students from five different law schools interviewed for positions at 16 county offices across Pennsylvania, with 155 total interviews scheduled. 

Megan Lovett, Director of Public Interest and Pro Bono Initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, explained how this event helps applicants develop a new or renewed interest in indigent defense, sometimes through interviews with offices across the state. “We’ve had students that interviewed at this fair last year that ended up getting jobs in a county that maybe they wouldn’t have considered before, and a county that may have had trouble recruiting from the law student population,” she said.

Want to learn more about this event? Check out the infographic below. If you are interested in participating in future Career Days, contact Andrew@PAPublicDefenders.com.