Assistant Parent Defender
The Office of the Parent Defender (OPD) was created to provide and promote high-quality legal representation for parents with an abuse/neglect/dependency or termination of parental rights (AND/TPR) case at the trial or appellate level.
The Office of the Parent Defender seeks a qualified attorney to assist attorneys practicing at the trial level in child welfare matters and to represent indigent parents in appeals of abuse/neglect/dependency and termination of parental rights cases.
The applicant will work with the Parent Defender to support trial and appellate counsel through developing resource materials, providing training and individual case consultations.
This is an in-person position working in the Durham office that requires occasional travel.
Click HERE for more details / to submit an application.
Closing Date is May 29, 2025
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Do you want to work in public defense?
North Carolina provides counsel to indigent persons through public defender offices; through attorneys who contract with the Office of Indigent Defense Services; and through judicial appointment of private assigned counsel.
If you are interested in working full time for a public defender office, or for one of the statewide defender offices such as the Office of the Appellate Defender, Capital Defender, or Juvenile Defender, search for indigent defense job openings here:
View Public Defense Job Opportunities in NC
If you are a private attorney interested in being appointed to indigent cases in non-capital cases at the trial level, check to see how the county where you want to practice assigns cases to determine whether it is a contract county or a roster county.
If you interested in handling cases in a roster county, check the Indigent Appointment Plan for that county for information on necessary qualifications and on how to apply for the lists.
If you are interested in handling cases in a contract county, contact one of our regional defenders.
If you are interested in handling capital cases, you will need to apply for the capital attorney roster.
If you are interested in handling appellate cases, you will need to apply for the appellate roster.
If you are interested in handling non-criminal appellate cases, you will need to apply for the non-criminal appellate roster.