Public defenders are also important because their main function it to represent accused individuals who are unable to hire private lawyers. Still, according to the description, private attorneys are not the same as public defenders who are government employees and therefore do not get paid an hourly fee for their work.
Unfortunately, most people often have no idea how the public defense system works, nor where the funding comes from. Specifically, there is a conventional knowledge about how much do public defenders earn for their services and who compensates them.
This article will be aimed at offering the readers some basic information about how public defenders are paid. It will also make it clear that majority of public defenders are employed by the nonprofit public defender organizations or government at state, county and city level.
Salary-Based Model
Depending on the type of work, the attorneys are paid a fixed wage with additional benefits, and for a public defender, the wage is deposited on an annual basis.
They receive remunerations from the state and local governments and usually are paid lower compared to prosecutors and private lawyers. Experts also suggest that those who defend citizens in rural regions may be paid less than their counterparts in urban areas.
Many public defender offices are experiencing high caseloads and limited budgets which mean that they are under pressure in terms of resources. In some states, defenders take over 200 felony cases or 400 misdemeanor cases per year; it is unclear how one could offer proper representation.
Contract-Based Arrangements
Some jurisdictions procure public defender services through tendering systems. These services are offered by private law firms or non-profit associations and are offered under contractual payments.
This model can underpay the attorneys and force them to work longer hours than expected especially on complicated matters. Captive caseloads must be strictly controlled not to dilute contractors and their responsibilities in multiple engagements.
Hourly Wage Model
Some public defender offices hire private lawyers in per hour basis to accommodate other cases beyond their list of official clients. These assignments are usually paid at a lower rate than the regular rates in criminal defense practice at an hourly basis.
Less remuneration discourages employees especially those that have previous experience in handling cases and again increased workload may hamper the lawyers financially.
Ethical Considerations
It means that public defenders are ethically obliged to give full measure of competent representation to each of their clients independently on how the defender is compensated for his or her services. However, compensation structures can create or imply the existence of conflicts of interest.
Potential concerns that come up are that legal work may be closed off to an attorney-client relationship because of certain hours billed or certain payments made for outside work such as experts and investigators. Legal representatives need to protect their power of discretion and negotiate for their clients.
There might also be the problem of overloading on the number of cases where public defenders can take as many cases as they wish to increase their earnings. This can be a problem, as it hampers their ability to provide quality representation.
Comparison to Private Attorneys
Criminal defense lawyers in private practice work under different terms that don’t resemble public defenders in any way; they bill their services hourly or per the case. They price themselves based on factors such as experience, overhead costs, and the living cost in the geographical area they practice in.
Private attorneys work for themselves and as such, they have more control over the nature of cases they take and the amount they earn. To some extent they also operate independently thus they can dedicate much of their time and effort to any case as they wish.
Usually, public defenders are involved in managing even more numerous cases per year with fewer resources available. This in a way limits the amount of time they spend on cases, from cases that a private practice lawyer can handle.
Conclusion
More funding should be provided to pay the public defenders fairly so as to ensure they offer the optimum and spirited defence that is enshrined in the constitution.
In as much as the criminal defense service providers seek to earn reasonable income for their services, structures in payment systems and workloads should also make it possible for them to attain high qualities in their services and still be accessible for all clients.
Promoting awareness and support of state and local funding for public defender’s offices helps to build greater and better equal access to justice.
Equalizing the compensation of public defenders to that of prosecutors eliminates the bias inherent in the criminal justice system. The issue of funding can help public defenders to carry out their constitutional mandate as defenders of the accused properly.
