A defense attorney is an attorney who represents a defendant or a person accused of a crime. They can have their own private lawyer. It's important to keep in mind that while they may seem similar, their daily schedules and the way they approach a case can vary greatly. Below, we outline some of the main differences, from objectives to job description, workload, salary, and some famous examples.Criminal defense attorneys defend people accused of criminal activities and ensure that their basic freedoms and rights are fairly respected within the judicial system.
A criminal defense attorney can work as a public defender or as a private lawyer. In any position, your job is to take advantage of the law to the defendant's advantage. They must protect the interests of their clients within the limits of the law. Criminal defense attorneys may appear in court more often than other types of attorneys, especially if a case goes to trial.
A public defender is an attorney appointed to represent individuals who would otherwise not be able to reasonably afford to hire an attorney to defend themselves in a trial. A number of countries provide public defenders to individuals, such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, Hungary and Singapore, and some states in Australia. Brazil is the only country in which the Constitution establishes a law office paid by the government for the specific purpose of providing full legal assistance and free representation to people in need. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, requires that the United States government provide legal advice to indigent defendants in criminal cases.
Public defenders in the United States are attorneys employed or contracted by county, state, or federal governments. The district attorney (DA), also known as a prosecutor, plays a critical role in our criminal justice system. They represent the government in criminal cases and are responsible for ensuring that justice is done by prosecuting people accused of committing crimes. As the principal legal officers of states, commonwealth, the District of Columbia, and United States territories, the attorney general's role is to serve as an advisor to state government agencies and legislatures, and as a representative of the public interest.
Instead, any lawyer can be appointed to advise a specific defendant, and the defendant can select a specific lawyer. For example, a defendant's income may be too high to be entitled to a public defender in misdemeanor proceedings, but low enough to be considered indigent when faced with a felony charge. In New South Wales, public defenders only intervene in criminal matters, both in first instance and on appeal, while in Victoria, public defenders also deal with civil and family law issues. In the federal criminal court system and in some states and counties, representation is carried out through a publicly funded public defense office. If convicted, the defendant must pay the attorney's expenses, unless the court determines that the defendant is indigent.
More correctly, a public defender is an attorney who works for a public defense office, a government funded agency that provides legal representation to indigent defendants. The court appoints the public defender's office to represent the defendant, and the office assigns an attorney to to deal with the defendant's case. In Queensland, the Legal Aid Office (Queensland) merged with the Office of the Public Defender in 1991, in an expanded service that allowed clients to access family, civil and criminal law services. While many people may think of family attorneys as divorce attorneys who deal with the division of marital property, child custody and alimony, family law encompasses many more issues.
The Constitution of Brazil uniquely establishes an office of public defenders (Public Defender's Office) at both the state and federal levels. Government lawyers can work in the offices of the Attorney General, in the offices of governors or mayors, in executive agencies, in the offices of public defenders or in state legislatures. In Scotland, there is a wider network of attorneys from the Office of the Public Defender (PDSO) employed by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) to represent those accused of crimes, in addition to private attorneys (on-call attorneys) paid under the legal aid scheme.
