PACDL is comprised of law students and attorneys admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and who are actively engaged in the defense of criminal cases.
PACDL is formed exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes including, without limitation, the following purposes: (a) to foster, maintain, and encourage the integrity, independence, and expertise of the defense lawyer in criminal cases; (b) to achieve justice and dignity for defense lawyers, defendants, and the criminal justice system itself; (c) to protect and insure by rule of law, those individual rights guaranteed by the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions; to encourage cooperation among lawyers engaged in the furtherance of such objectives through educational programs and other assistance; and through such cooperation, education, and assistance, to promote justice and the common good; (d) to promote study and research in the criminal justice system and the related disciplines; (e) to disseminate by lecture, seminars, and publications the advancement of knowledge of the law as it relates and is ancillary to the field of criminal practice; (f) to promote the proper administration of criminal justice; and (g) to foster periodic educational meetings of defense lawyers and to provide a forum for material exchange of information regarding the administration of criminal justice and thereby concern itself with the protection of
individual rights and the improvement of criminal law, its practice and procedures.
