Here’s what we found after calling 72 public defender offices:
- The average public defender salary in the United States is $66,182. This is slightly less than what we found for the average assistant district attorney starting salary.
- The highest starting salary is San Francisco which pays starting public defenders $131,000.
- The lowest starting salaries can be found in Louisville, Oklahoma City and Tulsa which each pay starting public defenders $45,000.
More and more states and localities are increasing public defense funding and creating full-time public defender offices.
We gathered the starting salaries for public defenders across the country by calling multiple public defender offices in the 50 largest cities in the United States, plus making sure we have at least one city from every state, for a total of 72 cities. While we’ve been able to gather enough data to release our research, we still welcome anonymous contributions to help further improve our data.
There has never been a better time to choose public defense. But, is this the career for you? Is it worth passing on opportunities in the private sector, or in other non-profit and government fields? Here’s a guide to figuring out if public defense should be in your post-law school plans.
What does a public defender do?
Let’s start by talking about what a public defender does and what kind of jobs are usually available. There is a constitutional right to an attorney for anyone accused of a crime, whether that person can afford a lawyer or not. Public defenders are the effectuation of that right, representing indigent people at the various stages of a criminal case.
Most public defender jobs involve trial-level representation, which can be broken down into 4 parts:
- Trial-level public defenders often meet clients within a day or two of an arrest.
- They then handle cases through initial proceedings like the preliminary hearing and arraignment, making numerous bail arguments and gathering facts.
- They then file and litigate motions to suppress evidence or press other procedural advantages.
- Finally, they handle the case through its “conclusion,” either by arranging for dismissal, negotiating a plea deal, or taking the case to trial, and then conducting a possible sentencing.
Aspects of trial-level representation
Public defenders at the trial level have a number of unique responsibilities. They must meet with and build trusting relationships with clients and their families. They must also investigate the case, which can include interviewing witnesses, scene investigation, and other forms of field work. They argue constitutional issues throughout the case, including release from custody, evidence suppression, and trial procedure. They persuade prosecutors, judges, and juries on issues of guilt, innocence, and the appropriate sentence.
At first, most public defenders start with traffic, misdemeanor, or low-level felony cases. Eventually, they begin to handle extremely serious cases, some of which receive significant public and media attention.
Public defenders also work on appeals
Some public defenders also handle cases at different stages of the criminal process. Trial-level attorneys may sometimes handle certain appeals, and some public defenders are specifically hired to do full-time appellate work.
The same is true for post-conviction work, or what many people refer to as “habeas.” Appellate work involves less client interaction and field work, and instead an extreme focus on written and oral advocacy. Post-conviction work often involves a mix of all of the above, but from a very different posture than traditional trial or appellate work.
Financial benefits of public defense work
There are so many reasons to choose public defense work. Some are practical in an immediate sense.
Benefits packages
Most public defender jobs feature the excellent benefit packages that other government employees receive. There are often affordable and comprehensive health insurance options for you and your immediate family. Usually, public defenders are covered by pension systems or have access to 401(k) and 457(b) retirement accounts that feature sizable employer contributions. There is favorable sick and vacation leave accrual.
Time spent as a public defender counts toward public service loan forgiveness, so you don’t need to figure out how to pay back the entire balance of your student loans using a salary like those in the survey results.
Job security
Moreover, the job is usually not subject to the whims of the legal economy. There are no recessions to weather in an occupational sense. Even if the economy affects government revenue, the constitutional nature of the job often protects it from funding cuts or layoffs. Unlike the private sector, your clients are assigned to you. There is no stressful billing, marketing, or business management whatsoever.
Valuable experience that transfers well
Other reasons to choose public defense are practical in a long-term sense because the advancement and exit opportunities are generally excellent. First, many systems and offices feature attainable leadership and supervisory positions. Those positions, and more experience and years of service in general, often bring higher salaries, better paid leave accrual, easier-to-manage caseloads, and the ability to earn recognition for work on high-profile cases.
Second, the amount of in-court experience that most public defenders get also prepares them well for a possible career change. Often, public defenders enter private criminal defense practice or civil litigation with significantly more courtroom advocacy expertise than those around them.
The value of meaningful work
Finally, there are reasons to become a public defender that might be entirely personal to you as an individual. While many attorneys work on cases that are fundamentally about the exchange of money or property, public defenders fight for the personal dignity of people with no resources at all. The job involves an inherent commitment to social justice and a belief in fighting for the underprivileged to balance the scales of justice, particularly on racial and economic dimensions. This is something a public defender gets to live and experience nearly every day.
Also, public defenders routinely get to defend the constitutional principles that undergird American society. Essentially, they collect a paycheck from the government to fight and frustrate the government. Depending on your personal values, public defense work can bring you feelings of accomplishment and pride that other careers would only sporadically offer.
Cons to being a public defender
High pressure, high caseloads
There are also a lot of reasons that public defense work might not be a great fit for some aspiring lawyers. Again, many are immediately practical in nature. Though the benefit packages are usually excellent, public defender salaries are often significantly lower. As you can see from the survey results above, many new public defenders, especially those in popular urban areas, may struggle to balance housing expenses, loan repayments, and other bills.
Additionally, public defense work often involves significant extra hours in order to do the job well. A “normal” week can easily involve 50-60 hours to keep up with basic responsibilities, and a significant event like a trial can mean that 80-100 hour weeks await. Caseloads are often uncomfortably high. Consequently, many public defenders understandably feel that they cannot provide truly adequate representation to every client.
Negative opinions of others
With regard to long-term practical issues, time in public defense can curtail some loftier career prospects. Many in the legal community still incorrectly view public defenders as second-rate lawyers. In some jurisdictions, the profession is generally viewed with distaste, and public defenders seeking judgeships or other high-profile positions may face political opposition. In rare instances, there is even community backlash for handling high-profile cases and asserting the rights of unpopular clients.
Professional challenges
Finally, just as there are intangible reasons to become a public defender, there are similar reasons to pass for other opportunities. Some lawyers may have a difficult time handling certain kinds of allegations or enduring constant questions from friends and loved ones about how they can represent “those people.”
Public defenders also face unique client-related challenges. Communication with clients can be difficult because of income and cultural issues. Many clients inherently distrust public defenders, either from prior personal or community experience. Dealing with these issues can cause many promising lawyers to quickly exit public defense work.
Success is hard to measure
Also, all defenders — public or private — “lose” a lot. Case dismissals, amazing plea deals, and trial wins can sometimes be rare for all sorts of uncontrollable reasons. Most public defenders cannot professionally measure success in the same way that prosecutors or civil litigators can.
Four factors in choosing a career in public interest
If you’re interested in a career in public defense work, you’ll need to think about a variety of factors relating to where you want to work.
1. Type of court
The majority of public defense jobs, particularly entry-level openings, are in state court defending people against allegations that they violated a state statute. Some openings are in municipalities that provide counsel for defendants accused of violating city ordinances, which are often lower level infractions.
Finally, some openings are in the federal defender system, defending clients that the United States government is prosecuting. As a general rule, federal openings are the most competitive and toughest for new law school graduates to obtain.
2. Location
When it comes to applying, you’ll need to consider obvious factors such as your personal and family needs regarding issues like money and geography. Then, learn about whether your desired location hires through a larger state or jurisdiction-wide system, as opposed to hiring conducted by individual offices. While some offices can be targeted directly, some larger public defender systems require willingness to be placed anywhere in the jurisdiction. This may involve thinking about location flexibility and an urban, suburban, or rural preference.
3. Get prior experience with internships and clinics
In terms of being a competitive applicant, most public defender systems are not focused on grades, journal participation, or mock trial and moot court. Instead, the best offices value commitment to the work and the client population. The work can be incredibly difficult, and having attorneys committed to the cause helps ensure quality representation. Many offices also face high turnover rates, and so they are always seeking attorneys who have a better chance of remaining committed to the work for a longer period of time.
The best thing you can probably do as a law student to increase your chances of becoming a public defender are interning with a public defender system or participating in your law school’s criminal defense clinic.
4. Interview them
Finally, when you are researching and interviewing, do as you should with any job and ensure that the system or office is a good fit for you. Make sure that your values and reasons for doing the job are shared by those you’ll be working with. Find out about the training and support you’ll receive as a new hire; those things can be critical to your ability to quickly learn and succeed.
Talk to as many people as possible who are familiar with where you’re applying, and make sure you’re comfortable with the office culture and working environment. Just like any other workplace, some offices can be extremely rewarding and uplifting, and others can be extremely difficult or even toxic. Leadership and values make a huge difference.
Takeaways
Being a public defender is not the right choice for every lawyer, but it is the perfect choice for some. No other profession offers the same balance of courtroom experience, client interaction, constitutional litigation, and potential for social change. If you want to be a practicing litigator, consider all your options, but definitely don’t overlook a career in public defense. It’s a job that could bring you immense happiness and fulfillment, and could bring amazing benefits to the people and communities that you would serve.
Kelson Bohnet is a career public defender, and earned his J.D. and Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Denver in 2012. He is currently a trial lawyer in the Death Penalty Defense Unit of the Kansas Board of Indigents’ Defense Services. Previously, he served as a trial-level capital defender for the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, and was also an attorney in the Denver Trial Office of the Colorado State Public Defender.
