Public defense offices in the US provide legal representation to indigent persons charged with a crime. They offer employment opportunities for attorneys, administrative support staff, and investigators, and often hire undergraduate and law students for jobs and internships. Larger offices may have their own libraries and IT staff.
Public defense offices in the US, which exist at both the state and federal levels, are structured in much the same way as private litigation firms. There are employment opportunities for attorneys, administrative support staff and investigators. Many public defense offices also hire undergraduate and law students to pay for jobs, internships, and internships. Larger metropolitan offices may have their own libraries and information technology staff.
Since the landmark 1963 Supreme Court case of Gideon v. Wainwright, every US state and federal government has been required to provide legal representation to indigent persons charged with a crime. This includes traffic violations if there is a possibility of any type of incarceration. Public offices of state public defenders are organized at the county level and there is one public defender for each county within a state. Federal defense offices are organized around the jurisdiction of federal courts, which may encompass multiple counties within a state.
There are many public defender jobs for lawyers. Depending on the size of the county, a public defender’s office may consist of a single attorney to dozens of attorneys assigned to different divisions and specialized tasks. Most office divisions are organized around the three main areas of criminal law, which are traffic, misdemeanor, and felony cases. In metropolitan areas, there may be subdivisions within the larger divisions. For example, in large cities like Chicago or New York, there may be assistant public defenders in the crime division who only deal with cases of sexual assault, arson or murder.
Most public defense offices represent large numbers of people. Lawyers are usually assigned to a specific courthouse and spend most of their day there. Investigators public defender jobs play an important role in most offices. Often, the only initial information available to the attorney handling the case is from police reports. The investigator’s job is to find and interview potential witnesses and gather other information for the attorney.
As with other law firms, there are public defender jobs for legal secretaries, paralegals, receptionists and other support staff. Many students studying law or criminal justice work part-time or summer jobs in public defense offices. Sometimes they may have legal staff doing legal research for attorneys or organizing information to help prepare for a trial. Some students also work as interns and receive course credits towards their degrees. Internships can often lead to permanent employment in the future.
In many offices, particularly the larger ones, there are also public defender jobs for those interested in library services and information technology systems. The legal profession has its own specialized software for legal research and electronic record keeping. Many public defender libraries now rely heavily on online research programs that supplement published hardcover materials. Much of the information in case files, including privileged client information, research, and test preparation, is also stored electronically.
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