California Appellate Project

Programs: The california appellate project (cap) is a non-profit corporation established by the state bar of california. It began operation in san francisco in september, 1983 as a law office under contract with the judicial council of california to recruit, train, assist and evaluate private counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants in death penalty cases and non-capital appeals and writs in the california supreme court. In 2017 the san francisco office of cap assisted approximately 126 private attorneys appointed to provide representation in approximately 283 death judgment cases. In addition, it provided training programs, consultations, and research materials for appointed counsel. It also provided record gathering services to approximately 327 condemned defendants who are partially or completely unrepresented by appointed counsel.

in october, 1986, cap opened a los angeles office under separate contract with the judicial council of california to provide similar services in non-capital cases in the second district of the california court of appeal. During 2016-2017, the los angeles office of cap: (1) made recommendations to the court of appointed counsel, matching cases to appropriate attorneys, in 2,879 cases. Provided strong assistance in 465 of those cases, and customized assistance in 2,297 cases. The balance of the cases were handled in-house by staff attorneys. The cases included criminal, child welfare (dependency), juvenile justice (delinquency), mental health, and a few miscellaneous where the client was entitled to appointed counsel; (2) maintained 21 staff attorneys and 11 support staff members. It also worked with a panel of 487 private sector attorneys of various skill and experience levels, divided among 5 rankings for purposes of matching with appropriate cases; (3) presented six day-long seminars/workshops (with continuing education credits) for the panel and some additional educational seminars for a special fast-track group of panel attorneys; (4) successfully completed development, installation, and training for a major update to its case management program used by three appellate projects, as well as a new electronic internet-based compensation claim program for the panel.