National Legal Aid & Defender Association is hosting a virtual presentation entitled Enhancing Fairness and Improving Outcomes at Initial Appearances on August 7, 2025 from 1:00 PM-2:30 PM Eastern.

Across the country, over 50% of individuals attend initial appearances without an attorney, leading to more individuals held in pretrial detention or receiving expensive and restrictive pretrial release. This webinar features three defense attorney-led programs in Portland, Oregon; St. Louis, Missouri, and; Toledo, Ohio aiming to improve initial appearance release outcomes through various and new innovative strategies.

This virtual event will offer why these strategies are needed, detail the challenges and facilitators to implementing these programs, and offer outcome results of the various programs. The webinar will end with a facilitated discussion among panelists unpacking how they implemented these programs and offer insights into how other sites can replicate these programs.