We were founded in 1917 — before the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right to counsel for the poor. Shelby County made that commitment first, and we have kept it ever since.
1917
Year founded — first east of the Mississippi
100+
Years of uninterrupted public defense
20K+
People represented every year today
1917 — Founded Before Gideon
The Shelby County Public Defender was established on May 14, 1917, by a Private Act of the Tennessee General Assembly — making it the first public defender office established east of the Mississippi River, and one of only a handful in the entire country at the time.
This was 46 years before the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) established that the Sixth Amendment guarantees counsel to any person charged with a felony who cannot afford an attorney. Shelby County did not wait for a court order. The city recognized that justice without representation is not justice at all.
Historical note
At its founding, the office was staffed by a single attorney and handled a fraction of the cases it does today. The concept of a publicly funded defense office was so novel in 1917 that our founding drew national attention from legal reformers and bar associations across the country.
A Century of Milestones
1917 Office Founded
The Tennessee General Assembly establishes the Shelby County Public Defender by Private Act — the first such office east of the Mississippi. A single attorney begins representing indigent defendants in Shelby County criminal courts.
1963 Gideon Confirms What Memphis Already Knew
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Gideon v. Wainwright that the Sixth Amendment guarantees counsel to defendants who cannot afford an attorney. The Shelby County Public Defender had already been doing this work for 46 years.
1980s Expansion of Services
As Shelby County's population grows and the criminal court docket expands, the office grows to include dedicated trial teams, investigators, and the beginning of what would become a specialized approach to different case types.
Early 2000s Mental Health Unit & Jericho Project
SCPD establishes a dedicated Special Litigation Unit focusing on mental health issues and launches the Jericho Project, a jail diversion program connecting defendants with mental illness to community-based treatment rather than incarceration. The Jericho Project becomes a national model for diversion.
2017 Centennial
The Shelby County Public Defender marks 100 years of continuous operation — a century of standing beside people who had nowhere else to turn. The office serves more than 20,000 clients annually, making it the largest criminal defense firm in Tennessee.
Today Still Fighting
Under the leadership of Chief Public Defender Jerri Green, SCPD continues to grow. The mission has not changed: high-quality, client-centered representation for every person who cannot afford a private attorney.
What Has Never Changed
Across every decade and every administration, the core commitment of this office has remained constant: that the quality of your legal defense should not depend on the size of your bank account.
We represent clients at the lowest points of their lives — after an arrest, facing trial, in the middle of a mental health crisis, or trying to rebuild after incarceration. We believe that every person who walks into a courtroom deserves a lawyer who knows their name, has deep knowledge of their case, and is prepared to fight for them.
That is what Memphis built in 1917. That is what we are still building today.
Meet our leadership
Learn about the people who lead the Shelby County Public Defender today.