Attorney Services

The Commission itself, and the employees of the Valley City administrative office do not provide legal advice or directly represent clients in legal proceedings. Representation is provided through the attorneys in the public defender offices and through various contracted counsel.

Public Defenders

North Dakota presently has seven full time public defender offices. They are located in Dickinson, Minot, Williston, Grand Forks, Fargo, and Bismarck. Each public defender office is a separate firm  who handles cases independently from the other public defender offices and contracted counsel.  If you have been assigned to a public defender office or contractor, their information is found below.

The public defender offices may be contacted directly at the numbers provided below.

Contracted Attorneys

In order to meet the mission of the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents and statutory requirements to provide counsel through private contractors, the Commission contracts with private counsel.  Private attorneys have monthly contracts with the Commission and provide services for criminal and/or juvenile indigent persons.  The number of contracts in any given area depends on the number of case assignments the particular judicial district shows for the year.  The attorneys have a written contract which spells out their basic rights and responsibilities for the contract period.  Contract attorneys are private counsel who are independent and not associated with any one individual public defender office.

The list of contractors for any given area in North Dakota may be found by contacting the  Administrative Office.

Contractors must enter case closing information through the Commission's case reporting system .