public defender

Definition of public defender

Further reading

The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way of translating a common Spanish-language term for ombudsman, defensor del pueblo. The rest of this article deals with the primary meaning.

By country

In civil law countries, following the model from the French Napoleonic Code of criminal procedure, the courts typically appoint private attorneys at the expense of the state. As a rule defense attorneys in such countries are not directly employed by the government.

Germany

Germany does not provide indigent legal representation in criminal trials, although it does provide legal advice.

United Kingdom

A system of private lawyers ("solicitors") and counsel paid by the state is operated in the United Kingdom.

United States

Different jurisdictions use different approaches in providing legal counsel for criminal defendants who can't afford private attorneys. Under the federal system and most common among the states is through a publicly funded public defender office. Typically, these offices function as an agency of the federal, state or local government and as such, these attorneys are compensated as salaried government employees. This approach provides a substantial majority of the indigent criminal defense representation in the United States.

In addition to government-based offices, there are also a smaller but significant number of not-for-profit agencies, often referred to as a "Defender Service", or Legal Aid Societies that provide indigent criminal defense services. These entities tend to rely heavily on indirect sources, public funding, and charitable contributions to meet their operating costs.

Yet another, although increasingly less common method to appoint counsel for indigent criminal defendants is by way of a so-called "panel" of private attorneys who enter agreements with the government to handle such cases. Under this system attorneys generally operate as independent contractors and are compensated at a fixed rate for the case or sometimes by the hour.