how come a public defender can't do the same job as a paid lawyer?

Question

is this fair if you can't afford a lawyer

Answer 1

A lawyer in a private practice getst to choose his clients - public defenders end up taking anyone. They also have a huge case-load compared to other lawyers.

So the private guy just chooses cases that are profitable, or that he knows are an easy win - whereas the PD get stuck with all the cases no-one else wants to touch.

Even so, don't write off public defenders. They are in the system all day every day; they know the people to contact to get the best deals, who the good judges are and all the wrinkles in the system. Public defenders can generally hold their own against regular lawyers.

Answer 2

A public defender is paid by the state instead of the defendant. A private lawyer is paid by the defendant. There are good and bad attorneys in both sectors.

Answer 3

They can do the same job, unfortunately you do not get paid well to be a public defender. If you are a lawyer, and person A is paying you $400/hour to work on thier case and person B has you as thier public defender and you get paid $50/hour to work for them, whose case do you spend more time on?

Answer 4

18B lawyers are they are called in nyc get paid 80 bucks an hr instead of 200+. Their caseload is larger to try to make more, and i think alot of them are depressed they arent in a firm, b/c they arent good, and dont bother.
They are jaded and look for the quickest solution to a case, often assuming their clients will offend again.
Of course there are exceptions.

Answer 5

They are generally grossly understaffed and extremely overworked. No its not fair at all.

Answer 6

overworked and underpaid