Allegheny County names new head of public defender office

Allegheny County has named a replacement for former Chief Public Defender Matt Dugan, who stepped down on July 7 as he runs for district attorney.

The county said Thursday that Laura McWilliams is taking over as leader of the Office of Public Defender effective immediately. McWilliams will lead the office as chief deputy.

Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said the chief public defender position will remain vacant and they won’t be replacing that specific position. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald is term-limited and will leave office at the end of this year.

McWilliams, of Penn Hills, has worked in the public defender’s office since 2013. She has largely focused on juvenile defense since 2016 and has led the office’s juvenile division since 2021, according to a news release. The division “works collaboratively to enhance procedural justice and to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline,” according to the county’s website.

McWilliams earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Wayne State University in Detroit in 2003 and a law degree from Suffolk University in Boston in 2012.

Dugan won the Democratic nomination this spring and will face incumbent District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. in a rematch of the primary. Zappala lost the Democratic primary race by 11 percentage points, but secured enough write-in votes from Republicans to run on the GOP ballot.

McWilliams is not the only new department head in Allegheny County government.

Allegheny County Manager Jennifer Liptak announced that Timothy Cox and Adam Lentz will be co-leading the Department of Budget and Finance. Budget Director Mara Soroka recently announced her retirement. Cox and Lentz had served as deputy directors of the office.

Brittany Prischak also has been named deputy director of the Department of Sustainability, a newly created office. She will lead the office while a search continues for a director.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story erroneously said McWilliams would assume the role of chief public defender. She will head the Office of the Public Defender as chief deputy.