Meet the New IDS Assistant Director and General Counsel

The Office of Indigent Defense Services (IDS) is responsible for providing legal representation for indigent defendants and respondents in North Carolina. It is a small agency with a big job, spanning representation in criminal prosecutions, parental rights proceedings, involuntary commitment cases, and other cases affecting important rights. This blog post introduces Whitney Fairbanks, the new assistant director and general counsel of IDS. That position is often the point of contact for lawyers, court officials, and others involved with indigent defense. The following is from an interview I conducted of Whitney last week. What did you do professionally before coming to IDS? Most recently, I was an attorney with the Office of General Counsel of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. I worked there for three and a half years and specialized in criminal and juvenile law as it affects the North Carolina court system. I want to give a shout out to AOC. I got to work with a host of people there committed to making the court system work for North Carolinians. Before I worked at AOC, I was the civil defender educator at the School of Government. I hope you remember that, John, since we worked together for five years. I was responsible for developing training and resources for a lot of different indigent defenders, including parent attorneys and juvenile defenders. I’m really proud of the work I did to create the School’s Collateral Consequences Assessment Tool (CCAT). I think it has helped raise awareness of all [...]