Integrity – Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say (November 4, 2025)
I believe in speaking plainly and clearly. After serving as a criminal defense attorney in the Public Defender’s Office, I have found that is the best way to talk to people to make sure that I am understood. I do not obscure the facts or hide meanings. If I say I’ve been a public defender 36 years, that’s what I mean, and that is the literal truth. I do not say that “I’ve got a career in legal defense spanning five decades” because that would be misleading and misunderstood as representing myself to have been an attorney for more than 50 years, and I’m not THAT old.
So, when a 45 year-old candidate is says in their campaign material that their “legal career spans over 3 decades,” you do the math. They have made a deliberately misleading statement. These verbal gymnastics obfuscate the truth in an attempt to trump up their actual years of experience. If they graduated from law school in 2005, that means that they’ve have been an attorney for 20 years. What’s wrong with saying so?
I intentionally do not want to give the wrong impression. So, I say it the way it is. And that’s why I do not see myself as a politician. I do not like double speak, “alternative facts,” or “spin”.
Recently, at the Central Committee Meeting of the Lancaster County Democratic Party, this same candidate asserted that, since she was hired (end of July 2024), “five people have left the Office.” That may be technically correct, though again, this is deliberately misleading. Two of the five people who left were law clerks. We hire law clerks as second and third year law students, with the understanding that they will work there for 1 or 2 years while they are in law school. After they pass the Bar Exam, if there is a job opening, sometimes we hire them to work as deputy public defenders. However, most clerks are here for two years at the most. We do not count them in our attrition rates, and to include them distorts the truth. Check out my article concerning attrition, and you will see that in Lancaster County, our office attrition rate is far lower than the national average.
All the talk about attrition or “burnout”, is part of a narrative designed to sully the reputation of the Public Defender’s Office, and by implication, the elected Public Defender. This sort of strategy is no different than shouting “there’s a crisis at the border, and only I can fix it.” Frankly, this attack on the Office denigrates the hard-working, dedicated attorneys and support staff that serve our county. Everyone, attorneys and support staff in the Public Defender’s Office, work very hard to represent our clients. To imply otherwise is disingenuous and insulting.
People who are employed here want to work here and have a desire to defend those who are most vulnerable. Most are not in it for the glory, esteem or money. Most do it to seek justice and fairness. The truth is that many attorneys seek jobs in our Office, and over the last year, we had many more qualified applicants than open positions. Our newest hire is a seasoned attorney with 25 years experience, who is enthusiastic about joining our Office and had been waiting for an opening for several months.
When I sought election in 2022, I ran against my former boss because I thought it was important that the elected Public Defender be present in the Office, in Court, and to take cases. I resigned from the Public Defender’s Office after 32 years, because I felt it was the ethical thing to do. I did not want to cause discord and discomfort in the workplace. To have two candidates for Public Defender working in the Office can have the effect of making people feel like they should “pick a team.” My hope in resigning before I ran for Office was that I would avoid creating stress and drama for the people still working there at the time.
My job as the elected Public Defender is to help ensure that our Office is zealously and effectively representing our clients. I manage the office to make sure the people that work there have what they need to fulfil our mission. I also take seriously my obligation to be accountable to taxpayers. I do not see my job as “political” but rather as service to our community.
Because I don’t see myself as a politician, I have never sought the endorsement of political office holders. Nor have I sought money from politicians or deep-pocketed donors to whom I would then be beholden. Instead, I have received endorsements from my peers, mentors, and attorneys with whom I have worked and taught. My campaign has always been a grassroots one, talking directly to voters and showing them what I’m about. To do otherwise feels dishonest and antithetical to who I am…a plainspoken, hard-working, lifelong Public Defender.
The Truth Is In The Numbers (October 1, 2025)
I have heard claims that the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office has a high turnover rate. Here are some actual facts.
In the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office, in 2025, I hired two new Deputy Public Defenders to replace the attorneys who left to work at other agencies. In 2024, two attorneys left the Office – one to be closer to family and a public defender job out of state, and the other left criminal defense work. In 2023, three attorneys left – one to start in private practice, one retired, and one took a job in the public defender’s office in the county where they live. Since 2023, three support staff left the office, two of whom moved out of state with their families. This makes our turnover rate for attorneys around 8%, and the rate for our total staff about 6.6%, well below the national average. In contrast, in 2022, under the previous elected Public Defender, 6 attorneys left the office in that one year. The attrition rate for attorneys in 2022 was 25%.
Public Defender attrition rates are high across the United States. That is the hard reality of the profession. “A 2023 survey by the Washington State Office of Public Defense showed that attorneys are leaving the profession due to a combination of factors, including low pay, difficult prosecutors, insufficient staff support, and vicarious trauma.” https://opd.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/000092-SurveyResults.pdf (For further reading, here are a couple articles on defense attorneys and vicarious trauma: https://www.ncada.org/featured-articles/13481321 and https://www.padisciplinaryboard.org/news-media/news-article/1609/vicarious-trauma-within-the-legal-profession ).
A report by the Minnesota Board of Public Defense states that “(b)etween 2017 and 2021 nearly 40% of defenders resigned their position. More than 1/3 of these individuals went to work for another public agency. In 2022, these numbers have increased. In the first six months of 2022, the number of applicants for Assistant Public Defender positions was down anywhere from 50% to 75% from the average of the four -year period pre-COVID 19.” https://mn.gov/mmb-stat/documents/budget/2024-25-biennial-budget-books/governors-recommendations-january/public-defense-board.pdf, page 8.
Wisconsin’s Office of the State Public Defender also reported in December 2024, that “the turnover rate skyrocketed during the pandemic. It increased from around 10-11% to more than 20%. Though that rate has slowed, it still hovers around 13% and has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.” https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2024/12/19/wisconsin-faces-a-shortage-of-state-public-defenders It’s a nationwide problem.
When I’m out and about talking to voters, I tell them who I am and I often hear “I could never do that job, but I appreciate that you do.” Being a Public Defender is hard work. Often, it is work that is misunderstood and/or unappreciated. We are often the second-most disliked person in the courtroom, and our client is the first. Think Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and you’ve got a pretty accurate picture. Add to that the pressure of the job and how that affects one’s work-life balance, and the negative and lasting effects of COVID on the workforce, and you have a perfect storm. Other factors include compassion fatigue and mountains of student loan debt.
As I said before, this is a nationwide problem, whose underlying cause is our nation’s addiction to overincarceration. In fact, the United States leads the world in per capita incarceration rates. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2024.html It stands to reason then that public defender’s offices everywhere in the United States are constantly overworked. We often face an uphill battle to make sure that justice and fairness prevail for our clients, and try to do so without losing our minds. Because we value each client and want to help each client, we will persist in defending their Constitutional rights, their dignity, and their liberty, in spite of the forces that work against us.
There are no simple fixes to this national dilemma. Though, in the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office, we have the benefit of data-driven, best practices to manage caseloads. Thanks to Dennis Keefe, now retired long-time Lancaster County Public Defender, and his hard work to get the important studies done and data collected, our Office has maintained caseload standards (see https://www.kristiegger.org/blog) which set out the maximum number of cases that attorneys handling certain dockets (felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile) can retain. The purpose is to balance our mission to provide effective legal services for indigent clients and the need to be good stewards of taxpayer money, while ensuring the workloads of attorneys and support staff are fair and equitable.
Yes, burnout is a real thing nationwide for public defenders. No office is immune. In my first term as your elected Lancaster County Public Defender, I have restored the stability of the office that previously suffered from lack of management and leadership, as well as the myriad lingering problems due to COVID. I show up early, leave the office late, carry my own caseload, and lead by example. I listen to the issues our hard-working attorneys and support staff face daily and do what I can to make sure everyone is treated fairly, compassionately, and equitably.
It’s hard work, and we are dedicated. But it’s not what one would call “fun”.
“So you want to be a Public Defender? Don’t do it for the money. There isn’t enough. Don’t do it for prestige, you won't get any. Don’t do it for the thrill of victory, victory rarely comes. Do it for love. Do it for justice. Do it for self-respect. Do it for the satisfaction of knowing you are serving others, defending the Constitution, living your ideals.”
-Carol A. Brook
Kristi Egger - Lancaster County Public Defender
Hello Friends and Supporters! (September 3, 2025)
As I run for a second term as Lancaster County Public Defender, I wanted to take the time to thank you again for your kind and generous support to help me win in 2022. I could not have done it without you. The job you elected me to do is a demanding one, and I’m keeping busy. If you’d like to know what my work entails throughout the year, below, please find just a partial list of things I have done. More information is available on my website kristiegger.org or on my Facebook page.
Please help me in any way you can - handing out palm cards to folks you know, putting up a sign, talking to people about voting/registering to vote, and donating to my campaign - even a little bit helps, because I am practical, not fancy, or extravagant, and I am frugal. In 2022 I worked as hard as I could, walking to around 30,000 households, and mailing information to those I couldn’t get to. This time around I continue to canvass, but I take my job as your Public Defender very seriously and work long hours, so I won’t be able to get to as many houses as I did in 2022.
You may have seen that I have an opponent in the Primary. Her stated plans are unrealistic, expensive, and unworkable. The Public Defender’s Office cannot be run as if we are a private law firm. We don’t have the money or staff for that. I have dedicated my entire career to public defense and have reasonable, workable goals to best serve our clients, the Office and our community.
As always, my door is open. Call or email me if you’d like more details or if you’d like to help. And, please come to my Campaign Kick-Off Cookout at our home, 3245 S. 28th Street, Lincoln, NE 68502 on Sunday, September 28, 2025, from 12:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and let me serve you, the true Public Defender way.
All the best, Kristi Egger
Lancaster County Public Defender
egger4defender@gmail.com
402–617–9020
www.kristiegger.org
www.facebook.com/EggerForPublicDefender
Here are just some of the things that I’ve done and keep on doing to serve the Office and Lancaster County:
1. Set up emergency preparation training for office staff
2. Scheduled in-house Continuing Legal Education Training
3. Upgraded Defender Data - Case Management System – Went live 6/25
4. Upgraded Westlaw - Legal Research Platform
5. Finally got proper signage for the Office building and client parking lot
6. Bought first aid kits of the office (out of pocket) and obtained emergency Narcan doses for Office
7. Instituted new policy to translate Client Form Letters into Spanish, when needed
8. Provided “Know Your Rights” cards in numerous languages
9. Arranged with HR to present personality assessment and training; De-escalation training; and Civility in the workplace training
10. Created Office brochure for the public and clients; updated brochures for prospective law clerks
11. Prepared for and notifed stakeholders about Warrant Wipeout/Amnesty Day in order to increase participation
12. Worked to create Mitigation Specialist classification (formerly called “Social Worker”) – to clarify the newly updated job duties
13. Member of NCDAA Board & Legislative Committee
14. Presented on the Mental Health Board/Competency cases at American Inns of Court
15. Regularly participate in the Mental Health Problem Solving Program monthly staffing meetings
16. Regularly participate in the Treatment Problem Solving Program staffing meetings twice monthly
17. Member and presenter to the Lancaster County Justice Council which meets quarterly
18. Member of the Nebraska Access to Justice Commission
19. Member of the Nebraska Supreme Court Commission on Practice & Procedure
20. Member of the League of Women Voters
21. Certified in Mental Health First Aid
22. Secured long-deserved salary increases for the Office Investigators
23. Researched and vetted various technologies designed to aid in processing of digital evidence; will implement pending authorization from County Board
24. Participated in the Lancaster County Sequential Intercept Mapping planning process in 2024
25. Numerous volunteering opportunities in the community
26. Participates in numerous meetings with community stakeholders and provide data and suggestions for strategies to decrease jail population
27. Assists Justice In Action - providing consultation re: Diversion and Problem-Solving Programs
28. Participates in various committees at Region V regarding competency restoration and mental health services
29. Meet with Indigent Defense Advisory Committee to advise re: staffing and case management update, and workload standards and workload studies
30. Support/Attend Drug, DUI, Veterans Court Graduations and Treatment/ISP graduations
31. “Stepping Up” Subcommittee Meetings with Region V
32. American Bar Association Public Defense Summit
33. Lead Office Management Team Meetings and Misdemeanor Team meetings
34. Public Safety Risk Assessment (PSA) weekly meetings – to finalize the tool for judicial use in setting bond and bond conditions
35. PD Office presence and Pride, Juneteenth, Project Connect, Justice In Action, etc.
36. Finalist for the 2024 Inspire Award for Excellence in Government Service
37. And all of this while handling my own legal caseload, assisting with Night Court and On-Call rotation
Caseload Standards - What are they and why are they important? (September 1, 2025)
Lately there has been some talk about caseload standards at the Public Defender’s Office, with assertions that they are outdated. These claims are patently false and possibly disingenuous. To understand what is wrong with these claims, here’s some background.
To address the ever-increasing workload in the Public Defender’s Office, in 2008, the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center published a Workload Assessment(https://www.lancaster.ne.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1670/2008-Workload-PDF). The study was based on Public Defender workload assessments conducted by the National Center for State Courts which tracked years of data. The goal was to provide a way to measure attorney workloads to serve as a template to assess current and future caseloads. In addition to the raw data collected, the PPC recommended caseload standards to ensure that attorneys had enough time to meet Constitutional guarantees for effective assistance of counsel. At the same, the recommendations were meant to achieve a workload standard that was fair to both the employees of the Public Defender’s Office and to the taxpayers.
These data-driven caseload standards are neither obsolete, nor are they inaccurate. The Office’s workload standards are fluid and change every year based on the average amount of time that the attorneys log in each case type. For example, felonies take the most time per case, as one would expect, and felony attorneys are assigned fewer clients and cases per month than the misdemeanor attorneys.
The County Board approved the workload standards, and the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office has continued to accurately keep track of the time that various cases take in order to maintain the integrity of the data and to appropriately assign cases. Logging the actual time attorneys spend on each case ensures that the caseloads are as objective as possible, and not based on feelings or speculation as to how long a case may take. It is based on real data averaged over tens of thousands of cases.
Because accurately tracking our time is so crucial to the attorneys, the staff, and to the taxpayers, upon starting my first term as the Public Defender, I felt it was it crucial to update and upgrade the Case Management System the Office was using. In fact, this necessary change was recommended back in 2014, though my predecessor failed to implement it during his 8 years in office. With the input of attorneys and staff, we vetted a dozen case management systems. As of June 2025, with the approval of the County Commissioners, we have successfully upgraded our case management system.
Our Office is recognized as practicing the gold standard for managing appropriate and fair workloads. Recently, a Public Defender in Western Nebraska asked me to provide data about our caseload standards. A judge there requested that he ask for our caseload data, as our process here in Lancaster County is so well regarded.
I have heard claims that the Office should abandon the current caseload standards and restructure the way we operate to make it like a “large law firm.” One proposal is to increase the amount of work done by support staff. Another is to “incorporate a team-based approach.” Such proposals are unworkable, unrealistic, and in some cases redundant. This scheme would greatly reduce the amount of cases our Office can handle which will ultimately cost the taxpayers more money.
Our paralegals, legal secretary, and indeed all our support staff are already working at full capacity. They fulfill all tasks they can, except those necessarily done by the attorneys. The Public Defender’s Office already utilizes a team approach. Every case has an assigned paralegal. Serious and/or complex cases are assigned a “first” and “second chair” attorney. Additionally, less-experienced attorneys are always encouraged to assist with cases that go to trial.
We are not a private law firm, and we cannot function as one. Though they may take court appointments and/or do pro bono work, by and large, private law firms pick and choose their clients based on their ability to pay. Private firms have much larger budgets proportionate to their client numbers. They generally have far fewer clients, dozens a year compared to our thousands. Think of a private medical practice versus a hospital and you start to get the idea.
The Public Defender’s Office does not have endless funds, so it is imperative that we be practical, not extravagant. We must abide by a budget and implement common-sense policies that serve to balance the needs of our clients, our staff, and the community. This has been my focus since I was elected and will continue to be my guiding principle as I serve the people of Lancaster County.
As always, my door is open, I look forward to talking with you, and I thank you for your support.
Kristi Egger, Lancaster County Public Defender
Campaign Promises Made. Campaign Promises Kept. (August 3, 2025)
Hello friends and fellow advocates for rights for all, regardless of income. The purpose of this article is to update you on just some of the things that I’ve been doing since I was elected Lancaster County Public Defender in 2022. When I started back to work in the Office in 2023, there was a lot of work to be done to make up for the many things left undone during the previous 8 years.
One important area of concern was our case management system, which was in dire need of updating. In fact, it had been recommended as far back as 2014 that the system be upgraded. The old, outdated system caused ongoing and increasing glitches which the Office had to deal with on a daily basis. Neglecting this needed change had caused headaches for nearly a decade, and we needed a solution.
After exhaustive research, we vetted around a dozen different case management systems. After weighing the various pros and cons, we decided, in lieu of a completely new system, to implement a major upgrade to our current system. The idea was to maximize the efficiency of the system and bring it up to date with current standards and protocols. At the same time, I wanted to minimize the learning curve that would have come with a whole new product. We had a go-live date at the beginning of June, and the progress continues. Modernization, with an eye towards functionality and affordability, is a benefit to the Office, our clients, and taxpayers. I am thankful that I was able to work with the County Board and present them with a workable and cost-effective plan to help the Office.
When I ran for Public Defender, I promised to be a leader who would show up and work hard, and I have done that. Everyone in the Office works tirelessly. We don’t need a political figurehead. We don’t need someone who is in it for the glory or to feed their own ego or to assist in their own social climbing. We need someone who is a daily presence, taking cases, mentoring the younger attorneys, and managing the staff.
I campaigned on fiscal responsibility. It is extremely important to be cognizant of the realities of a budget, and to be a good steward of taxpayer money. One of my campaign promises was to maintain my own caseload as an attorney. Since I’ve been back in the Office, I’ve closed 145 cases, have 35 open cases, handle the vast majority of not responsible by reason of insanity reviews, assist with the Mental Health Board docket, and have taken over other attorneys’cases as needed. This not only assists the attorneys in the Office but saves the taxpayer money. Every case I take on is one less that other attorneys in the Office don’t need to handle. By doing this, I help to decrease the need for our Office to file motions to withdraw due to exceeding caseload standards. (More on caseload standards in another article to come).
Being the Public Defender is more than a full-time job. It is not an easy job. As my partner can attest, I routinely work well beyond 40 hours a week. There are nearly 50 employees, from myriad backgrounds, who all work hard, often under stressful conditions. It is a constant challenge to serve our clients while making sure that the staff and attorneys have what they need. Every day, I draw upon my decades of experience to make policies that are fair and equitable to all staff and that best serve the people of Lancaster County.
The things that keep me going are first, my love of the Office and the people who serve in it, and my unwavering belief in our mission to serve. No, it’s not an easy job, but I knew that already when I decided to run for Public Defender. It keeps me busy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As always, my door is open, and I thank you for your support.
-Kristi Egger, Lancaster County Public Defender
Diversion and Problem-Solving Court Shrinkage? Blame the County Attorney. (June 2, 2025)
Here in the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office, we work hard to assist our clients to get them the help they need. At the same time, we are striving for outcomes that serve the best interests of our clients and serve the best interests of our community as a whole. Oftentimes that involves applying our clients for Diversion, Problem-Solving Programs and Problem-Solving Courts. Diversion and Problem-Solving Courts are important programs that help accomplish both of those goals. How so? In a few important ways:
These programs place a strong emphasis on structured supervision and personal accountability, helping the person get the specific treatment they need. This more directly addresses what brought them into the court system to begin with, teaching them how to make better decisions in the future. The focus is on rehabilitation, not incarceration. This approach decreases recidivism and helps people build better lives. The alternative approach, jail and/or prison is far more costly to the county and more harmful to our citizens in the long run.
In 2024, the Public Defender’s Office closed approximately 175 cases where people participated in various diversion/problem solving programs and treatment courts. This does not include the cases that are still open, with people currently involved in diversion/program/court. The largest number of case dismissals (which is the desired end result) occurred in the Pretrial Diversion Program, a program available only for misdemeanor cases. Approximately 108 people successfully completed PTD. The next highest amount of participation was in the Mental Health Problem-Solving Program, followed by Drug Court, the fairly new DUI Court, Treatment Problem-Solving Program, and last, Veteran’s Court.
Also last year, the Public Defender’s Office had 36 clients admitted to the Adult Drug Court program. Of those, 13 clients had their cases dismissed, and 11 clients were transferred back to the regular criminal court for unsuccessful participation. In 2023, the numbers were 23 admitted, 7 dismissed, and 6 transferred, respectively. In 2022, those numbers were 20, 3, and 4, respectively.
In 2024, the number of participants admitted to the various programs/courts increased, and we had hoped that this trend would continue in the future. However, it may not, due to the County Attorney’s decision in April 2025, to prohibit people with domestic assault (DV) charges from applying for problem-solving programs. This is in spite of the fact that Community Corrections, the County agency in charge of running the diversion and problem-solving programs, has been very successful helping people with DV cases in the general diversion and the applicable problem-solving programs.
Mr. Condon was interviewed in March by 10/11 News. He was then asked about whether or not a problem-solving court dedicated specifically to helping perpetrators of domestic violence could be created in Lancaster County, modelled after one functioning in Scott County, Tennessee. Condon responded:
“I think there’s a cost associated with it, so you know, we would have to figure out how we would pay those costs, but there’s a cost because the county would probably be paying it if it’s a diversion program,” . . . “I would say that, you know, probably be worthwhile to take a look at it, see what the, you know what the recidivism rate is... You know if it’s successful, then yeah, we could look into doing something like that.”
The irony is that Lancaster County already had programs where perpetrators of domestic violence could be helped, and the County Attorney stopped admitting them into those programs the very next month. Those programs were the general diversion, the intensive supervision problem-solving, and mental health problem-solving programs. Although the eligibility criteria on the website https://www.lancaster.ne.gov/1015/Problem-Solving-Programs still includes domestic assault as an eligible offense for pre-trial diversion and applicable problem-solving programs, our Public Defender’s Office has been told that clients “need not apply” as they will not be accepted, as of the end of April, 2025. https://www.lancaster.ne.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21518/2024-Pre-Trial-Diversion-Eligibility-Criteria?bidId=
Several clients with pending DV cases for whom we applied for admittance into problem-solving programs and diversion were told they were no longer eligible, their applications were removed, and they were denied admission into programs that would help them, their families, and our community.
This is not fair, you might say. Why can the County Attorney arbitrarily do this?! Unfortunately, the Nebraska Legislature has given him sole discretion to do so, although he is supposed to make these determinations taking into consideration the input of other community officials and stakeholders.
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=29-3602 https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=29-3603
And, although Section 29-3603 says “(a) pretrial diversion plan for criminal offenses shall include, but not be limited to: 1) (f)ormal eligibility guidelines established following consultation with criminal justice officials and program representatives. The guidelines shall be written and made available and routinely disseminated to all interested parties.”
That may have been the reality when the diversion program was initially created, but it exists no longer. Changes are made despite the protestations of my Office, private attorneys, clients and other community stakeholders. And if defense attorneys fuss too much, what we hear from the County Attorney is a dismissive, “well, I can just shut down the programs completely.” In other words, the County Attorney giveth, and the County Attorney taketh away.
So, what can you do? Make your voice heard. You can ask County Attorney Condon to change course and let people with DV cases back into the programs, so they can get the help they need to reduce recidivism. You can tell Judges and County Commissioners and City Council members how important these programs are, so that the programs cannot be eliminated and can continue to be funded. You can talk to people who may have criminal charges pending, and promote the programs, so people will be more encouraged to gain the benefits of the programs and not “just take a fine or jail” and be done with it. Education, training, guidance, and breaking bad habits and learning new good ones helps us all.
Kristi Egger
Lancaster County Public Defender