Added value

Dan Filler at Concurring Opinions on The Special Value of Public Defenders:

Why do I think services provided by public defenders are better, on balance, than those provided by individual appointed defense lawyers? Four reasons. First, there is the matter of expertise...

Because of their size, public defender offices also do a better job supporting good lawyering...

A third plus: public defenders raise expectations for other defense attorneys...

Finally, public defenders create - and support - a community where criminal defense is seen as virtuous and worthy of effort...

None of this is to say that appointed individual counsel never provide good criminal defense. But there are institutional benefits to public defender offices that are hard to match...