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3 unusual facts about Public Defender


Public defender

The depiction of the public defender in film runs the gamut from the sleazy Ned Racine in Lawrence Kasden's 1981 neo-noir film Body Heat, to the honorable Atticus Finch from the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

More recent treatments include the 2008 television series Raising the Bar, as well as the 2010 film Conviction which is based on the true life story of public defender Betty Anne Waters.

A plethora of novelists have established careers on the legal thriller genre in general and on public defenders in particular, including popular novelists Michael Connelly and John Grisham who himself tried cases as a court-appointed attorney in Mississippi.


Andrew Valdez

After graduating law school, Valdez began his professional career as a public defender with the Legal Defenders Association Felony and Homicide Division.

When Valdez returned home from the JAG Corps he once again resumed his position as trial counsel with the Legal Defenders Association Felony and Homicide Division.Valdez spent 9 years working as a public defender and in 1993 he was appointed a Third District Juvenile Court Judge by then Governor Michael O. Leavitt.

Brynjar Meling

He became famous overnight after being appointed as the public defender of Mullah Krekar, and has since also worked on a number of other high profile cases, mainly cases directly targeted against Norwegian commercial and political interests.

David Feige

Feige is the author of Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice, which recounts his experiences as a public defender in The Bronx, New York City.

George Bisharat

Bisharat served as deputy Public Defender for the city of San Francisco from 1987 to 1991, and in 1989, he published the book Palestinian Lawyers and Israeli Rule: Law and Disorder in the West Bank (University of Texas Press).

Thomas Demetrios Lambros

As a common pleas judge, he established a voluntary public defender program to provide free counsel to indigent defendants, as well as a mandatory domestic relations reconciliation program.


see also

A C Wharton

In 1980, then-Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris appointed him as Chief Shelby County Public Defender, where his concern for the mentally ill in the criminal justice system gave birth to a national model program, known today as the Jericho Initiative.

Edward C. Prado

He has received many honors and awards, including the following: St. Thomas More Award, St. Mary's University School of Law (2000); Outstanding Alumnus, San Antonio College (1989); LULAC State Award for Excellence (1981); Edgewood I.S.D. Hall of Fame (1981); Achievement Award, U.S. Attorney General (1980); Outstanding Young Lawyer of San Antonio (1980); and Outstanding Federal Public Defender, Western District of Texas (1978).

Illeana Douglas

On television, Douglas appeared briefly as Garry Shandling's love interest on The Larry Sanders Show, starred in the series Action (1999) with Jay Mohr, guest starred on Seinfeld, Frasier and The Drew Carey Show, and has played a public defender on several episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002 and 2003.

Jon DeGuilio

From 1981 until 1989, DeGuilio served as an associate for a Schererville, Indiana law firm, during which time he also served part-time as a deputy prosecutor and public defender for Lake County, Indiana and as a City Councilman (1984–1987) in Hammond.

Raymond Edward Johnson

A prolific performer, Johnson was also heard as Mr. District Attorney in 1939, Roger Kilgore, Public Defender, Calling All Cars, and starred in radio adaptations of the comic strips Don Winslow of the Navy and Mandrake the Magician.

Robert Eisner

Together, they had two daughters, Emily is a lawyer with the Cook County, Illinois Public Defender's Office, while Mary is the legislative director for Kent Conrad.

William L. Thomas

He became an assistant state public defender in Miami-Dade County in 1994 and was selected to become an assistant federal public defender in the Southern District of Florida in 1997 where he represented defendants in all types of complex cases (including drug conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery and fraud) in federal court.