Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy

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DPA Main Office & Contact Information

Dept. of Public Advocacy
100 Fair Oaks Lane
Suite 302
Frankfort, KY 40601
Phone: (502) 564-8006
Fax: (502) 564-7890
dpa.webmaster@ky.gov

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DPA News
Website Updates

April 16, 2008

Handout Highlights 2007

The Advocate

2007 Annual Defender Caseload Report

Erwin W. Lewis, Public Advocate

Erwin W. (Ernie) Lewis grew up in Missouri, the son of a Baptist minister and a school teacher. Ernie received his undergraduate degree from Baylor University in 1969, a Masters of Divinity from Vanderbilt University in 1973, and a Juris Doctoris (J.D.) from Washington University in 1977.

He has been with the Department of Public Advocacy since he was admitted to the bar in 1977 in several different capacities, including appellate lawyer, local assistance branch manager, directing attorney of the Richmond Trial Office, and Regional Manager for the Central Kentucky Region.

Since 1985, he has been on the faculty of the National College of Criminal Defense located at Mercer Law School in Macon, Georgia. He is also on the faculty of the National Defender Leadership Institute.

He was named Kentucky Public Advocate by Governor Patton in October of 1996, and again in 2000. He was appointed to a third term by Governor Fletcher in 2004. He has served as a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, the Department of Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, the Board of the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Board of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, the Governor’s Criminal Justice Response Team, the Kentucky Criminal Justice Council, the Kentucky Corrections Commission, the Chair of the Corrections/Committee Based Sanctions Committee of the Criminal Justice Council, and the Governor’s Drug Summit. He is on the Advisory Board of the International Centre for Healing and the Law in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

He has testified on indigent defense issues before Task Forces in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana. In 2000, he was named Outstanding Lawyer by the Kentucky Bar Association.

• Kentucky ’s Public Advocate Elected Co-Chair of Nation’s Chief Defender Council

Kentucky ’s Chief Public Defender has been named to lead The American Council of Chief Defenders. Ernie Lewis, serving his 3 rd term as Public Advocate for the Commonwealth of Kentucky , will serve as co-chairman of the ACCD. The national organization is dedicated to promoting fair justice systems by advocating sound public policies and ensuring quality legal representation to people who are facing a loss of liberty or are accused of a crime and cannot afford an attorney. The ACCD is a section of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA).

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