JAMES "Jim" BETHKE

In November 2021, Jim was appointed Director of the newly created Managed Assigned Counsel Office, Bexar County, Texas. The office provides needed support to appointed attorneys and applies client-centered, evidence-based strategies to enhance outcomes. Additionally, he serves on the Board of the National Association of Public Defense Fund for Justice, The Texas Indigent Defense Commission, and the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyer Association and Chairs the Board for the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs.

 

On October 28, 2019, Jim began serving as Director of the Harris County Justice Administration Department. This newly created Department is designed to work with a broad spectrum of agencies to promote fairness and equality throughout the criminal justice system. 

 

Jim Bethke served as the Executive Director and Chief Defender for the Lubbock Private Defender Office from 2017 to late 2019. This program allows jurisdictions to deliver quality indigent defense services that afford more direct oversight and accountability of the defense function. It also relieves the judiciary of the administrative burdens of managing indigent defense. It has some benefits of a public defender office but relies on the private bar to provide direct client services. He was also an Adjunct Professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.

 

From 2002 through 2017, Jim served as the Executive Director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. The Commission is charged with implementing a statewide system of standards, financing, and other resources for criminal defendants who cannot hire attorneys. He serves on the Board of the Indigent Defense Research Association. He is a Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit member and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (TCDLA). He chaired TCDLA's Indigent Defense Committee in 2013 and 2014 and currently serves on its Legislative Committee. He also is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In 2014, he received the Daniel H. Benson Public Service Award from Texas Tech University School of Law.

 

Nationally, he is a member of the National Legal Aid & Defenders Association (NLADA) and, in December 2016, was appointed as NLADA's representative to the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative Advisory Committee (GAC). The GAC advises the nation's highest-ranking law enforcement officer- the United States Attorney General- on information-sharing issues. He is also a past chair of its Systems Development and Reform Committee. He is a former member of the American Bar Association's (ABA's) Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (SCLAID) and past chair of its Indigent Defense Advisory Group.

 

In 2015, as part of an ABA initiative working through the International Criminal Justice Consortium, he served as part of a team of legal experts from France, Spain, and the United States charged with conducting an independent review and assessment of the International Criminal Court's legal aid system at the Hague. During the 81st Legislative interim, he served as the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions presiding officer. He is a past chair of the Juvenile Law Exam Commission for the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a Texas Bar Foundation Life Fellow. He is a U.S. Army veteran from the 101st Airborne Division and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Tyler and the Texas Tech University School of Law.