public defender

A public defender is a lawyer who represents indigent criminal defendants. Public defenders are staff attorneys of the legislatively created public defender service. They are appointed by the court to represent defendants and are paid by the county, state or federal government.

[Last reviewed in August of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team ]

Wex

• THE LEGAL PROCESS
• criminal law
• criminal procedure
• legal practice/ethics
• wex definitions