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If the applicants are not granted their law license by October, when they were scheduled to begin their jobs, Sanders said they “will likely incur additional debt on top of their student loan obligations from law school and college, and therefore find themselves less able to pursue public defense as a career.” Sanders added that applicants, like all new attorneys, would receive “intensive supervision from experienced supervising attorneys” and a reduced caseload to “ensure they provide competent and diligent representation.” Mick Guile, who is among those hired as a public defender in King County, said Thursday they were “happy they gave us this assurance.” “Obviously, ideally I would be able to start sooner, but I understand that it would be difficult to get everyone temporarily licensed to practice,” Guile said. “I honestly hadn’t even considered the fact that they might have revoked job offers, given the new caseload standards, so it just made sense to me that they would still be taking us on – just with a much different timeline.” The Washington Bar Association announced Wednesday that it had canceled the exam after a technology issue made it impossible to administer to the 645 applicants registered to take it at the Yakima Convention Center.
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