Public Defenders

California Public Defenders

Every person is entitled to an attorney to represent them when facing criminal charges. If you cannot afford an attorney, the court will appoint the Public Defender`s office to represent you. Public Defenders are trained criminal attorneys, just like private criminal defense attorneys. Many public defenders are intelligent, hard-working and caring people. However, there are three problems with the Public Defender`s office. 

First, each individual public defender has an enormous caseload. When I show up to court, I am representing one or two clients, whereas the public defender for that courtroom is defending ten to thirty defendants. Needless to say, I can devote much more time to an individual case than a public defender can. I take the time to walk my client through every stage of the case, but a public defender may not have more than a few minutes to spend with each of their clients. 

Second, you are not assigned to an individual public defender; you are just entitled to have representation from their office. Although their office will try to have the same public defender work with you, any other public defender can take over your case at any time. As a former prosecutor, I saw many cases where multiple public defenders appeared on the same case at different times. This can be frustrating for a Defendant and make it difficult to establish the rapport necessary for a successful defense. 

Third, the Public Defender`s office will rarely deal with family or friends and their attorneys are incredibly difficult to contact outside of court. If a defendant hires me, he/she has access to me 24-7. I answer my phone evenings and weekends, and I`m willing to set up client meetings during those times. Furthermore, if my client`s spouse or parent wants to become involved in the case, then I am willing to talk and meet with them to the same extent (with my client`s permission). However, a public defender will almost never talk to or meet with family of the defendant and most of their contact with a defendant is during court. This does not mean that public defenders are bad people. The fact is that public defenders simply do not have the time to do the things that a private attorney can do. 

Of course, not all private attorneys are better than public defenders. Finding the right private attorney is a matter of finding someone that you trust -- you trust their competence and you trust their ability to communicate with you. 

One last thing to note -- public defenders are NOT available to everyone and they are NOT always free. The public defender`s office will screen Defendants and only poor Defendants can use their services. Also, even if you get a public defender to represent you, at the end of your case, the judge can order you to pay a fee for their services.