Public Defenders

Alejandro

Take a 14 minute break from studying to watch this video. Made me consider becoming a public defender myself ;(

KimberlyK

It is a sad state of affairs when it comes to Public Defenders... Harris County, the largest county in Texas by population (third most populated in the country), only has a fledgling Public Defenders office and Galveston County still has none....

John Oliver +1

leonsmoney

Great video! Thanks for sharing. Made a nice break from studying

LoraxMan

Did not see this John Oliver piece, thanks for sharing.

Another (former) public defender in the news:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/the-worst-of-the-worst

notwilliamwallace

Love John Oliver and his ability to take on subtle social issues. Thanks for sharing.

nicole.hopkins

@Alejandro said:
Made me consider becoming a public defender myself ;(

Yes maybe one day a week or so. My atty friend worked in the Dallas PDef office a few days a week ... It's not a pleasant environment and the pay is laughable. Ultimately I think you have to have a peculiar kind of calling to be able to do that kind of grueling work for almost no money. $700/case like on Better Call Saul is a pipe dream—I believe it's usually half that per case?

nicole.hopkins

@Alejandro BUT there will be opportunities in law school to work in the PD office—would be a good time to test it out to see if that's your calling!

Accounts Playable

Two of my favorite blogs have some interesting posts on public defenders, in case anyone wants to read them:

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/04/debtors-prison-for-failure-to-pay-for-your-own-trial.html (I remembered reading this one a while ago, so I had to dig a little bit to find it).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-public-defender-system-isnt-just-broken--its-unconstitutional/2015/09/03/aadf2b6c-519b-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html

As an aside, Marginal Revolution (the first blog) is a really good law and economics blog. The other one, The Volokh Conspiracy, is probably the premier law blog in the Internet. For all lawyers/aspiring lawyers, it is a must read. Lots of cool posts on those.

lpadr009

wow this is really eye opening, but kind of makes me want to be a PD due to stories like at minute 4:00. and LOL at university of roachester. lmao

YiliansG

I actually work for the Office of the Public Defender in New Jersey as an investigator. NJ has some of the best offices with plenty of resources but in no way does it compare to a successful private firm. The amount of cases that we get is ridiculous. It truly puts our clients at an unfair disadvantage. Working for the PD has molded me into a completely different person. Its taught me to be grateful for all the things that I have. It's also changed my perception of right and wrong. Its a lot of work but its very rewarding at the end of the day. I want to go to law school to hopefully become a Public Defender.

kervins1914

@alejandro thanks for sharing the video; it's very insightful.

Alejandro

Thanks @kervins1914 !!! I'm glad you enjoyed. It's definitely a reassurance that the legal path is my calling and a noble/fulfilling profession.

kervins1914

I agree, and appreciate videos like this because the profession is not for everyone. @alejandro

Alex Short

Thanks so much for posting. Sometimes I need to be reminded how a lawyer can do good for people, and personally, this exemplifies a broken justice system... one that our generation better fix.

Also thanks for the links to the blogs above! @accountspayable if you have any other links to blogs/interesting legal news, I'd really appreciate a DM or reply