Two members of Georgia's public defense community traveled to Kenya to deliver courtroom skills training inside correctional facilities, marking a notable international collaboration in access-to-justice efforts. Circuit Public Defender Letitia Delan and Training Director Annie Deets, both from the DeKalb County public defender's office, participated in a program aimed at strengthening legal representation for incarcerated individuals in Kenya.
The initiative was organized through a partnership among several organizations, including JUSTICE NEST, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), and the international law firm Jones Day. The program was spearheaded by retired Judge Ann Claire Williams, who has been a driving force behind efforts to expand legal training and access to counsel in East Africa. Her work has focused on addressing systemic gaps in legal representation that leave many defendants without meaningful advocacy.
In Kenya, government-provided legal representation is generally unavailable to criminal defendants unless the case involves a potential death sentence, leaving the vast majority of accused individuals to navigate the justice system without counsel.
The training sessions covered practical courtroom skills and were designed for a diverse audience that included incarcerated individuals, prison staff, and paralegals. By equipping these groups with foundational advocacy and procedural knowledge, the program aimed to create a ripple effect within the facilities, enabling participants to better understand and participate in legal proceedings even in the absence of formal legal representation.
For Delan and Deets, the experience offered an opportunity to apply their expertise in a context vastly different from their daily work in DeKalb County. The collaboration underscores a growing recognition within the public defense community that the challenges of inadequate legal representation are not confined to any single jurisdiction and that the skills developed in Georgia courtrooms can have meaningful impact well beyond state lines.
The trip also reflects the Georgia Public Defender Council's broader commitment to professional development and cross-cultural engagement, demonstrating that its mission to ensure quality defense extends into the international arena when opportunities arise.