Executive Director

Job Posting Title

Executive Director

Agency

047 INDIGENT DEFENSE SYSTEM

Supervisory Organization

Secretary of Public Safety

Job Posting End Date (Continuous if Blank)

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the posting end date above.

Estimated Appointment End Date (Continuous if Blank)

Full/Part-Time

Full time

Job Type

Regular

Compensation

Salary commensurate with qualifications and within agency salary schedule.

Job Description

The Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS) is the statewide public defender agency which provides legal representation to indigent clients throughout the State of Oklahoma, with the exception of Oklahoma and Tulsa counties.

OIDS is currently seeking a full-time Executive Director in our Norman office. 

Basic Purpose

This position functions as the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System. The position is responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and coordinating services and operations of all divisions, departments, offices, and functions of the Agency to achieve its mission, vision, short- and long-term goals and objectives.

The Executive Director serves as the chief executive officer for the agency and serves at the pleasure of the agency’s Board of Directors. The Executive Director shall be an attorney who has practiced law for at least four (4) years preceding the appointment and who is licensed to practice law in this state or is eligible to become so licensed within one (1) year of the appointment.

Typical Functions

Per the Indigent Defense Act (Title 22 § 1355.4), the OIDS Executive Director shall:

• Perform administrative functions which serve the Board of Directors;

• Prepare and administer an annual budget approved by the Board and process claims for the System;

• Enter contracts to provide counsel in cases in which the defendant is indigent and unable to employ counsel, enter contracts with individuals, educational institutions, or state or federal agencies for other purposes, and approve or disapprove the provisions of any such contract;

• Review and approve or disapprove claims for expenditures of monies;

• Take action to strengthen the criminal justice system in the State of Oklahoma;

• Promote the education and training of all attorneys representing indigent criminal defendants including, subject to available funding, nationally recognized defense seminars and evidence-based practices regarding behavioral health and treatment of defendants with substance abuse or mental health needs;

• Maintain and improve effective representation for the indigent criminal defendant;

• Employ personnel as necessary to carry out the duties imposed upon the System by law and to set the salaries of such personnel, subject to the salary schedules adopted by the Board;

• Solicit and maintain a current list of attorneys licensed to practice law in this state who are willing to accept case assignments from the System and who meet any other qualifications as set by the Board;

• Solicit and maintain a separate list of persons eligible for appointment to capital cases, who meet the qualifications set by the System;

• Establish reasonable hourly rates of compensation for attorneys appointed in accordance with the Indigent Defense Act, subject to approval by the Board;

• Establish maximum caseloads for attorneys employed by the System, subject to approval by the Board;

• Reduce caseloads through reassignment of cases to private attorneys, as necessary;

• Approve the sharing of office space, equipment, or personnel among the separate indigent defense programs within the System;

• Prepare and submit to the Board an annual report for the preceding fiscal year regarding the efforts of the System to implement the purposes of the Indigent Defense Act, and to file that report with the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and the Presiding Judge of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals;

• Conduct regional or statewide conferences and training seminars for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the Indigent Defense Act;

• Provide System personnel who serve in an advisory capacity to the indigent defenders and defense attorneys who represent indigents pursuant to contract or who agree to accept cases assigned by the System to re