Public Defenders

What is a Public Defender:

Public Defenders are attorneys paid for by the State of California to provide the minimum legal representation to indigent defendants. Some of them are very good attorneys, many are not. Typically a public defender will not have, nor spend, the time to get to know you or your case well enough to provide the most complete representation possible.

Public defenders have very large case loads and usually cannot devote anywhere near the necessary time to a case that a private attorney does. Furthermore, public defenders are government employees who get paid and keep their jobs regardless of the quality of service they provide, regardless of the way they treat their clients and regardless of the outcome of their cases.

Lack of Concern and Convenience:

For the most part, a public defender is there to make sure that an individual's basic rights are protected. The public defender has little personal concern for your case or your convenience. Generally, the public defender will require you to come to each and every court appearance, whether needed or not. You may be made to wait all day for your case to be handled. A private attorney will make the appearance without you whenever possible. When you do have to come to court, a private attorney will actually explain whatâ??s going on and handle your case quickly so that you spend as little time as possible sitting in court waiting.

Lack of Communication:

In most instances, a defendant will be lucky to talk to his or her public defender for a few short minutes at the courthouse just before court. Quite often you will not even have the same public defender for each court appearance and the new one will most likely not know anything about you or your case.

Lack of Accessability:

They do not keep office hours like private attorneys, they cannot be reached after normal business hours and reaching them by telephone is extremely difficult if not impossible.

There are additional problems using a public defender in DUI cases. Public defenders provide no representation and little, if any, help with the DMV. Since the DMV is not a court action "it's not there problem".

Typically, for all of these reasons, very few of your questions get answered satisfactorily. These are the same reasons why you should hire private counsel instead of using a public defender. After all, it's YOUR FREEDOM at stake!

Example:

Mr. Melnick recently took over a case from the Public Defender where the client was in custody for over 15 months. During that 15 month period the Public Defender never made a request for bail reduction and never made any motions on the client's behalf. In essence, nothing was done except for the Public Defender's request for continuances. After substituting into the case Mr. Melnick was able to get his client released immediately and resolve the case after only two court appearances. The same results could have been reached 12 months earlier if the client had had an attorney that cared or made an effort. This case truly illustrates what can happen with a public defender!

Private Counsel:

Unlike a public defender, Mr. Melnick will take the time to get to know you and your case thoroughly and he will devote as much time as necessary to do so. He will answer your calls and your questions and will be available when you need him or have a question. He will not make you come to court unless it's necessary and will take a personal interest in the result. There is simply no comparison between Mr. Melnick and the public defender.