Alexandria Legal Aid

The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia provides and promotes legal representation to indigent adults and children facing a loss of liberty in the District of Columbia. The organization is intent on providing its services in order to protect society s interest in the fair administration of justice. Beginning in 1960 as the Legal Aid Agency, the agency was expanded and the name was changed to the Public Defender Service in 1970. PDS is a federally funded, independent agency of the District of Columbia that is governed by an 11-member Board of Trustees. One asset of the Public Defender Service is its diverse group of more than 300 alumni who practice law, teach in law schools, serve as judges and work in a wide variety of jobs in the District of Columbia and across the country.

Office of the Inspector General is an executive branch agency of the District of Columbia that conducts audits, inspections, and investigations of government programs and operations. The office is responsible for promoting economy, efficiency and transparency in the functioning of the government. Office of the Inspector General specializes in the detection and prevention of fraud, waste mismanagement in the government. It also serves as the principal liaison between the district government and the US General Accounting Office. The office conducts independent fiscal and management audits, inspections, and investigations of District government operations. In addition, Office of the Inspector General maintains a unit that is responsible for control Medicaid fraud.