Regulations

Permanent Regulations of the Board on Indigent Defense Services

Permanent Regulations of the Board on Indigent Defense Services - User Friendly Version

This document, including headings, is not intended to be the official regulations of the Board on Indigent Defense. Rather, it is provided merely as an aide for easier reading of the official regulations. The official regulations are contained in LCB File No. R042-20,filed October 25, 2021, and LCB File No. R033-23, filed December 15, 2023, (both of which can be accessed above) and should be exclusively relied upon as to the actual content of the regulations. Should you observe any discrepancy between the official regulations and this document, please let us know via an email to didscontact@dids.nv.gov

Board on Indigent Defense Services Regulation Authority

The Board on Indigent Defense Services ("Board") shall establish minimum standards for the delivery of indigent defense services to ensure that such services meet the constitutional requirements and do not create any type of economic disincentive or impair the ability of the defense attorney to provide effective representation.  See NRS 180.320. 

The Board shall adopt regulations establishing standards for the provision of indigent defense services including, without limitation:

  1. Establishing requirements for specific continuing education and experience for attorneys who provide indigent defense services.    
  2. Requiring attorneys who provide indigent defense services to track their time and provide reports, and requiring the State Public Defender and counties that employ attorneys or otherwise contract for the provision of indigent defense services to require or include a provision in the employment or other contract requiring compliance with the regulations.  
  3. Establishing standards to ensure that attorneys who provide indigent defense services track and report information in a uniform manner.  
  4. Establishing guidelines to be used to determine the maximum caseloads for attorneys who provide indigent defense services.  
  5. Requiring the Office of Indigent Defense Services and each county that employs or contracts for the provision of indigent defense services to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, consistency in the representation of indigent defendants so that the same attorney represents a defendant through every stage of the case without delegating the representation to others, except that administrative and other tasks which do not affect the rights of the defendant may be delegated. A provision must be included in each employment or other contract of an attorney providing indigent defense services to require compliance with the regulations.

The Board shall establish recommendations for the manner in which an attorney who is appointed to provide indigent defense services may request and receive reimbursement for expenses related to trial, including, without limitation, expenses for expert witnesses and investigators.    

The Board shall work with the Executive Director and the Dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or his or her designee, to determine incentives to recommend offering to law students and attorneys to encourage them to provide indigent defense services, especially in rural areas of the State.  

The Board shall review laws and recommend legislation to ensure indigent criminal defendants are represented in the most effective and constitutional manner.   

The Board shall adopt regulations to establish a formula for determining the maximum amount that a county may be required to pay for the provision of indigent defense services. 

The Board shall adopt any additional regulations it deems necessary or convenient to carry out the duties of the Board and the provisions of this chapter.

Department of Indigent Defense Services Language Access Plan

Nevada’s Senate Bill 318 (SB318) and the federal guidance on Title VI both agree that language should not be a barrier to accessing governmental programs and services.  As SB318 puts it, “Persons with limited English proficiency require and deserve meaningful, timely access to government services in their preferred language.”  Moreover, it makes it clear that it is the responsibility of government to provide that access:

State and local agencies and entities that receive public money have an obligation to provide meaningful, timely access for persons with limited English proficiency to the programs and services of those agencies and entities. 

Nevada Department of Indigent Defense Services is committed to compliance with Nevada Senate Bill 318 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 2 C.S. § 561 et seq. (Act 172 of 2006) in ensuring meaningful access to State services and programs for individuals with limited English proficiency.

The purpose of this document is to establish an effective plan and protocol for Nevada Department of Indigent Defense Services personnel to follow when providing services to, or interacting with, individuals who have limited English proficiency. Following this plan and protocol is essential to the success of our mission to assist Nevada counties in developing quality, equitable, and sustainable indigent defense systems that strengthen local communities and meet or exceed the state and federal constitutional guarantees that protect each of us.


Pursuant to SB 318, this proposed plan is made available for public comment beginning Wednesday October 26th, 2022, through Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 5:00pm. Comments may be submitted to didscontact@dids.nv.gov.