Judges Postpone Decision on New Legal-Aid Contract : Law: Job of representing indigent clients may be put out to bid. One firm has had a lock on the work for 15 years.

Unable to decide Wednesday on a controversial county contract that provides legal aid to hundreds of poor people each year, Orange County Central Court judges decided to meet again next week to consider giving other lawyers a chance to bid on the pact.

In the meantime, Presiding Municipal Judge Gregory H. Lewis said the Santa Ana law firm of attorney William W. Stewart will remain the county’s designated attorney to represent indigent clients in Central Court. The firm has held the contract for 15 years.

“As far as I’m concerned, I see no reason to effect a change in this intermediate period of time,” Lewis said Wednesday following a closed meeting with other judges.

Stewart’s handling of the contract--worth between $700,000 and $1 million per year--has been the subject of recent criticism by two judges who have complained that the attorney has largely abandoned his role in the courtroom, farming out much of the contract caseload to other defense attorneys who share in the profits.

Municipal Judges Margaret R. Anderson and Pamela L. Iles, both members of a county advisory committee on indigent defense issues, have also expressed concern that the Santa Ana attorney has been splitting time between his import-export business in South America and tending to the indigent-defense contract in Orange County.

One year remains on Stewart’s contract with the county. But Lewis said the proposed changes have nothing to do with the complaints aired by Anderson and Iles.

Stewart has defended his firm’s handling of the contract and has denounced the judges’ criticisms, saying that clients have received “excellent” representation.

Lewis said he and other Central Court judges have been seeking “greater coverage” in the courts, where judges have reported delays in getting contract lawyers to court hearings for their indigent clients.

The contract change proposed by Lewis would involve placing the contract out for bids and possibly choosing up to three law firms to share the contract duties.

Wednesday, the judges’ discussion was closed to the public and Lewis said all future judges’ sessions will be closed until a reorganization is complete. Any plan proposed by the judges would have to be reviewed by the county Board of Supervisors.

“We are taking this step by step,” Lewis said.

The public defender’s office generally handles indigent defense cases, but in criminal cases with more than one defendant, or in which public defenders have other conflicts of interest, assignments are made to private attorneys under contract to the county.