8.9: Ethical Conflicts of Defense
- Page ID
- 48407
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Ethical Conflicts of Defense
There are challenges facing government paid defense attorneys. One of the challenges is that you are paid by the government and yet your duty and obligation is to the person accused by that same government. The lack of experience by many defense attorneys willing to accept the low fees can raise ethical questions about the quality of representation provided. Many public defenders use their experience in the office as a steppingstone toward higher achievements in their career which may detract from their focus on the duties of the job at hand. The typical low wages, poor working environment, and low self-esteem from others in the legal profession may lessen one’s sense of professionalism and negatively effect the interaction with the client. Finally, many public defense attorneys have very high caseloads and so they struggle with balancing the demands of these caseloads with the opportunity to provide in-depth counsel to some but not all of their clients.