The majority of felony cases in the United States involve indigent defendants represented by publicly financed attorneys. We examine the effects of efforts to improve representation for economically disadvantaged defendants through the adoption of managed indigent defense offices (MIDs) in Texas, which impose a layer of oversight and accountability on attorneys who provide indigent defense services. Exploiting the staggered roll-out of MIDs across Texas counties, together with administrative data on attorney employment and caseloads, jail populations, and newly compiled arrest and prison records, we show that introducing management concentrates cases among a smaller set of local lawyers. Management reduces the use of bench warrants and the probability of imprisonment. Sentences among those incarcerated lengthen as imprisonment falls, implying that the defendants diverted from prison would have served relatively short terms. Overall, we find that management matters in the administration of criminal justice.