NDS’ model of holistic public defense aims to remove our clients from the criminal legal system entirely.
At NDS, each client is represented by a team, rather than by an individual attorney. NDS defense teams are made up of attorneys, investigators, social workers, team administrators, and often law school and social work interns. We strive to provide the best possible services to our clients by combining the knowledge, skills, and attention of all of the team members. We devote significant resources to investigators to help our lawyers vigorously defend our clients.
NDS social workers also provide intensive services for our clients including advocacy for alternatives to incarceration, educational support, psychiatric and psychological referrals, and drug treatment placements.
Team administrators act as the lynchpins that hold the teams together, coordinating between attorneys, clients, their families, the courts, and outside social service providers. Our criminal defense teams also work closely with other NDS programs to ensure that our clients receive effective and efficient legal representation.
“I was facing the rest of my life in prison. NDS got involved and they appreciated me as a person. My eyes just opened and I was like ‘OK, this is help.’ NDS for me, I will say, it saved my life because at one point I gave up. But NDS gave me hope.
In the News
Steed discussed NDS’ award-winning defense model alongside a panel of practitioners and exerpts
Coming 2019: NDS will bring our award-winning holistic defense model to Detroit
Neighborhood Defender Service has been chosen as the “Best Public Defender Office” in the country by the National Association for Public Defense.