Child Welfare Agency Attorney Performance Standards Work Group

 

Work Group Scope

This work group will craft a set of performance standards designed to guide the practice of child welfare agency attorneys. These Standards should not be written as a replacement for the rules of professional conduct, nor should they be used to establish a legal standards of care. These Standards should instead serve as a valuable tool both to the new lawyer or the lawyer who does not have significant experience in dependency cases, and to the experienced lawyer who may look to them in each new case as a reminder of the components of competent, diligent, high quality legal representation that the children and families in Oregon deserve.

In the process of crafting these standards the work group will review national model standards and consult the Oregon State Bar Standards of Representation for Parent’s and Children’s Attorneys. Where appropriate, and to the extent practicable, Child Welfare Agency Attorney Performance Standards should incorporate a similar or complementary structure and content.