NEW JERSEY OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER LAUNCHES OPD RESOURCE LIBRARY

TRENTON, N.J. — July 8, 2026 — The New Jersey Office of the Public Defender (NJOPD) today announced the launch of the OPD Resource Library, a secure, custom artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform designed to help public defenders quickly access years of briefs, motions, legal research, training materials, and institutional expertise through one unified, searchable system.  Previously, this knowledge existed across offices, servers, and databases, requiring public defenders to spend significant time searching for information.

Built in partnership with researchers from Princeton University, the New Jersey Innovation Authority, and the New Jersey Office of Information Technology, the OPD Resource Library reflects a collaborative effort to responsibly deploy AI to public defense.  Through years of pursuing an access-to-justice agenda, Princeton researchers studied public defense real-world workflows and identified where AI could meaningfully support that work.  As part of this collaborative project, researchers also stress-tested commercially available AI systems against the unique demands of NJOPD.  These experiments revealed that existing tools were not designed for the language, legal reasoning, or security requirements of public defense, hence the decision to build a customized AI-powered public defense tool.

“When the existing technology couldn’t meet the demands of public defense, we didn’t lower our standards.  We raised them,” said Jennifer Sellitti, New Jersey Public Defender.  “Together, we built a tool tailored to public defense that amplifies the collective intelligence of the entire agency while helping public defenders focus more deeply on strategy, advocacy, and the people we represent.”

Rather than adapting a commercial system, Princeton researchers Peter Henderson and Dominik Stammbach engineered the platform to understand public defense language, identify relevant legal arguments, and meet real-world search needs.  The OPD Resource Library is an AI-enhanced search engine for legal briefs, allowing users to search public and internal NJOPD materials using questions or plain-language phrases.  The system then surfaces relevant sections from prior briefs and provides AI-generated summaries to contextualize the findings.  To ensure accuracy and ease of review, the tool supplies the original PDF with the specific, relevant section automatically highlighted for immediate verification.  Working with NJOPD public defenders, Princeton researchers tested and refined the system’s results to ensure it surfaced the most relevant source materials.

“Together with NJOPD public defenders, we built an AI tool that directly supports existing workflows of defenders, while minimizing AI risks,” said Dominik Stammbach, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Princeton University. 

“It is exciting to show a blueprint for how artificial intelligence, implemented responsibly through such impactful partnerships, can empower civil servants and improve public services,” said Peter Henderson, Princeton University Professor.

Bringing the platform into a secure, statewide production environment was made possible through a partnership with the New Jersey Innovation Authority, which helped the team understand policies, best practices, and tools surrounding AI.  The New Jersey Office of Information Technology (NJOIT) provided the technical expertise necessary to integrate and host the tool within the state government’s secure, internal infrastructure.  Utilizing a secure infrastructure managed by NJOIT, the system ensures that all data remains confidential.  Unlike off-the-shelf AI models that risk data leaks or provide generic information, this tool is built to search NJOPD’s internal library of 3,000 briefs, 200 internal documents, and 350 directives.  By keeping the system within state-managed boundaries, the platform operates with strict data-safety protections, preserving the confidentiality of the NJOPD’s research and client files.

Office of the Public Defender
Communications Office
opd.communications@opd.nj.gov