how can the free lawyers suck so much?

Question

how come the free lawyers suck so much.. My son had one and he was in jail for 4 years and his friend payed for a lawyer and he only had1 year in jail

Answer 1

That's why they are free! They aren't getting paid a huge amount like the others. I think they just don't care. They get paid by taxpayers and the state.

Answer 2

you get what you pay for. I am sure there are many fine lawyers that work as court appointed lawyers but face facts. The better a lawyer is, the better law firm he can get into. The better the law firm, the better the lawyer gets paid. The better the lawyer gets paid, the more the client has to pay. Even for two equal lawyers, the bigger law firm has more staff to do research and help the attorney prepare for the trial. All that help costs money. We live in a country where the justice is the best that money can buy. Pick any celebrity, high profile case in the last 10 years. Do you think that as an average person you would have gotten the same outcome? I think not.

Answer 3

I'm answering this as a lawyer so be aware and I am also assuming you mean lawyers who are public defenders.

First off, they don't necessarily suck. There are good lawyers and bad lawyers in thepublic defenders program just like there are good lawyers and bad lawyers in the private sector.

One reason there is a perception they are not any good is because they have a tremendous case load and are often not able to provide the personalized service that you get if you hire your own lawyer.

Another problem is that many of the public defenders are younger lawyers who haven't had time to polish the way they present themselves so they may appear to be less competent than they are.

As to why your son got mroe time than the other guy, quality of representation may be one reason but there may be a lot of other factors. Criminal history, the person who the evidence pointed to most convincingly, any deal they cut, all of these along with hundreds of other reasons could result in different sentences for different Defendants.

A murder case I was involved in recently had three co-defendants. One was given ten years by the jury, one pled to twenty years, and the third got 80 years from a jury. The most culpable got the lightest sentence. We were all court appointed.

Answer 4

They don't realize the stress on a doctor or they wouldn't tell you go to Med School. Thing is people watch things like Perry Mason and Matlock and other older shows and think that being a Lawyer is easy. They don't realize how much WORK it is. Also people think a Criminal Lawyer(what most people think of when you say lawyer) just goes to Court and argues a case. WRONG. First off when you first go in to Law you will get the worst jobs. You will be the one doing all the research and helping write briefs and all the bad stuff. You won't be going to Court any time too soon. I was warned when I was considering going in to law by the one Professor at the College(and I believe he was a former lawyer) he said you better like reading and writing if you want to go in to law. If you want to go in to law then go for it, just be warned of how much work it is. Not just when you get in, but getting in and trying to pass the Bar Exam and all that.

Answer 5

I'm sorry for your son, but it's unfair to make that assertion. I work for a Public Defender's office on the East Coast and I can tell you from experience, they are no better or worse than paid lawyers. Like any profession, the quality of service depends on the individual who provides you counsel. Public Defenders are overworked and underpaid, and yet the ones I work with still manage to defend their clients better than any of the paid lawyers in the region. Please don't be so quick to judge an entire occupation that exists solely to help people who do not have the means to help themselves.

And as far as your friend, it's ridiculous to compare sentences to one another without information on the case, judge, lawyer, and district. Again, please just be respectful of how these "free lawyers" are willing to do a job that provides clients with constitutional rights that few others are willing to make the sacrifice to give.

I'm not saying all Public Defenders are saints, or even good lawyers -- you may well have had a really crappy attorney. Just don't generalize in such a broad and insulting way.

Answer 6

Because they're free. All the good lawyers get paid. This is the same situation we're going to have when our government socializes healthcare.

Answer 7

Those who are assigned to the indigent defenders office are not going to waste much time on one individual case, so they just go through the motions, and get this chore over with, and get back to their private practice.

Answer 8

There is a reason that they are free. The good ones can charge what they want. You get what you pay for.

Answer 9

yea-that's why people who are rich-carry a "get out of jail quick card"-with their lawyers name on it- what is your son in jail for?-good luck

Answer 10

Man, I guess they shouldnt have done the crime for this to have become an issue in the first place, right? If they didnt want to risk doing the time....