Everyday as a Seattle DUI attorney I hear it – “I don’t want a public defender. They aren’t any good.” And as soon as I hear that statement I try to think about what that is founded on. Is it because they saw it on television? Is it because a family or close friend had a bad experience? Or is it just because that is the impression that everyone has? I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s true.
Indigent counsel has one of the hardest jobs around. They take on the responsibility of defending people against the government when they can’t afford the services of a private attorney. It can be a thankless job, but public defenders take on that challenge with zest.
Many people think assigned counsel is lazy. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, they may be some of the hardest working people in the bar (the legal bar, not the bar bar). They are in court all day fighting for their clients and then they have to prepare for what they have coming.
Some people think public defenders are where they are because they lack the intelligence of other attorneys, even private criminal defense attorneys. If you think this, you are wrong. Public defenders have just as much intelligence as many other private attorneys, they are just committed to helping those that need it most. Some of the smartest attorneys I know are public defenders.
The admirable thing about indigent defense counsel is that many of them chose to do what they do. They could have taken better paying jobs, or jobs with more prestige, or even been private criminal attorneys. But they decided to do what many people don’t – to stand up and help people that can’t help themselves.
There is only one thing that limits the abilities of a public defender – time. If you are ever in court you will always notice one thing, the private attorneys have one, two, maybe three cases to handle, and the public defender has 20 or more. And that happens day in and day out. The number of cases they are forced to deal with sometimes makes them ineffective. They just don’t have enough time to give every case the attention it needs. Other than that, feel good if you have a public defender.
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