Annual Report, 2011 / Office of the State Appellate Defender

              Intranet Site
In Fiscal Year-2008, the agency established the OSAD Information Center, our intranet site.
This is the place where all agency employees go to view everything from the status of open cases to the
agency’s Employee Policy and Procedures. The Information Center has increased the efficiency of how
information is disseminated and has reduced paper usage and the need for large attachments in emails,
saving the agency resources and money.
In Fiscal Year-2009, a major expansion to the OSAD Information Center, the OSAD Legal
Resource Center, was established. The Legal Resource Center contains a database of all significant
OSAD documents, State filings and Decisions. The Legal Resource Center also includes the Criminal
Law Handbook, Criminal Law Digests, reports and articles written by OSAD attorneys and links to
numerous outside legal resources. The establishment of the Legal Resource Center has greatly assisted
attorneys with legal research and has also reduced paper usage, again saving the agency resources and
money.
During Fiscal Year-2010, further improvements were made to the Legal Resource Center. Now
attorneys not only access decisions, but can immediately see if the decision was granted relief or was
significant. For these decisions, attorneys can also immediately view a summary of the decision, again
increasing the efficiency of the attorney and further assisting them in our goal of high quality
representation of our clients.
Internet Web Site
During Fiscal Year-2011, the Agency continued to provide an Agency web site. Among the
materials available on the site are Agency training programs and publications (including the Illinois
Criminal Law Digest, Handbook on Brief Writing and Oral Argument, and Summary of Issues Pending
in the Illinois Supreme Court), and Annual Reports from prior years.
In keeping with the mandate of the General Assembly, the web site includes an extensive
expungement section containing instructions, forms, and contact information.
The State Appellate Defender site also contains links to other Internet sites which have court
opinions and other materials useful to legal researchers. The Appellate Defender site is located at
http://www.state.il.us/defender.
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Grants
During Fiscal Year-2011, the Agency was the recipient of one grant from the Illinois Criminal
Justice Information Authority.
Systemic Sentencing Appeals Cases - In October 2003, the Agency began receiving a grant
continuing the employment of a unit of assistant appellate defenders to work exclusively on sentencing
issues. In FY-2011 the grant in the amount of $252,705, of which $189,529 were federal funds,
continued to provide funding for three attorneys.
II. THE AGENCY
A. Introduction