Posted by William Nunnelley on 2009-07-28

Samford University's Cumberland School of Law will host the Southern Public Defender Training Center July 30-Aug. 14. The two-week institute trains attorneys who represent indigent persons in criminal cases.

Lawyers from around the nation will teach and attorneys from Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina will attend as students. The public defender classes of 2007 and 2008 will have joint training July 30-31. After the two-day training for previous classes, 30 new public defenders will begin their two-week institute.

In addition, representatives of the Ford Foundation, Soros Foundation, National Association of Criminal Defense lawyers, National Legal Aid and defenders Organization and Equal Justice Works will attend.

"This is the third year Cumberland has hosted the event and it has gotten bigger each year," said Cumberland Dean John Carroll. "This training model of the Southern Public Defender Training Center is getting national attention."

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.