“Essentially, it opens up all law [school graduates] to us, not just the ones that [completed] a clinical program, or a law student practice program,” said 11th Circuit Public Defender and FPDA President Carlos Martinez.

Florida public defenders, struggling with high turnover and poor recruiting, are proposing a practice program for law school graduates that they say would also benefit prosecutors and legal services organizations.

“To me, it’s primarily an access-to-justice issue,” said veteran Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez, president of the Florida Public Defender Association.