Pursuant to its Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Plan, on June 1, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri approved CJA Panels of attorneys to accept appointments in criminal cases.  Three Panels were created, one each for the Western/St. Joseph, Central and Southern/Southwestern Divisions.   The terms of the initial CJA Panel members were staggered over three years.  One-third of each Panel was randomly selected to serve for one year; one-third of each Panel was randomly selected to serve for two years; and one-third of each Panel was randomly selected to serve for three years.  All future appointments will be for three years. 

New CJA applications and renewal applications for those members whose initial term was for one year were accepted beginning on February 1, 2019 through March 1, 2019.  The CJA Committee has completed its review of the applications and selected CJA Panel members for the one-third of the CJA Panel whose terms expired on June 1, 2019.  A list of the membership of the CJA Panels, by division, as of June 1, 2019 is set forth below.

This year for the first time, CJA applicants for membership on the Western Division Panel could ask to be placed in a mentorship program.  The Court, in conjunction with the CJA Panel Selection Committee, will oversee a pilot program in which attorneys who do not have the requisite experience to qualify for membership on the regular CJA Panel will be eligible to assist members of the Panel and the Federal Public Defender’s Office to gain the necessary experience required to provide high quality defense representation in federal criminal cases.

As of February 3, 2020, the Court will again accept new CJA applications as well as renewal applications from those CJA members whose initial term was for two years. The deadline for receiving applications is Monday, March 2, 2020.

• CJA Panels >>  Western/St. Joseph Division  | Central Division | Southern/Southwestern Division
• CJA Application
• CJA Plan

The Court has implemented the CJA eVoucher program for electronic submission of CJA Vouchers.  Below are several electronic learning modules (ELMs) to introduce you to the eVoucher System.