Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS)

This summer I am working at the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) under Chief Counsel Anthony Benedetti. The CPCS provides legal defense for those in need that can’t afford it. Attorneys at the CPCS serve a wide range of clients, from adults and children accused of crimes, to children and caretakers in child welfare cases, mental health patients. The CPCS is made up of both private and public attorneys and encompasses five different divisions. Those five divisions are the Children and Family Law (CAFL), Mental Health Litigation, Private Counsel, Public Defender, and Youth Advocacy Divisions.  A majority of the clients that find themselves needing appointed counsel are not bad people, they’re simply people who have found themselves in bad situations and have been dealt a bad hand in life. The CPCS is about protecting serving those that can’t protect themselves. Being in the office and being around the attorneys, every single person there is an amazing person. As an attorney, they could’ve chosen wealth, and instead they chose the fulfillment of defending and serving those in need. Meeting the attorneys, hearing their stories, and seeing their dedication and passion gives you a first class look at what it means to selflessly devote yourself to public service. You also get to meet clients and their families, hear their stories and get a powerful look into the problems our vulnerable populations are dealing with every day. Along with the huge task of defending those in need, the CPCS also takes on the challenge of bringing about systemic change on behalf of their clients and those like their clients. They’re highly involved in criminal justice reform. They’re doing work on sibling visitations, the juvenile arena, compensation for the wrongly convicted, raising the juvenile age, and much more. The CPCS embodies working for something greater than oneself and perfectly exemplify what public service is all about.