Question for the Lawyers. Not asking for legal advise.

Is he a public defender?  Work for a firm (or for himself) that donates or is contracted by the government on a rotating case by case basis to provide defense for those who can't pay?

He may just be the lucky lawyer that got assigned and can't say no.

All very much depends.  As noted, a PD gets assigned cases.  Other attys work pro bono, some get paid a fee by the govt to take indigent cases, some people have money or family to pay.

And he is not a murderer until he's convicted.  Only accused at the moment. I couldn't do the work, but have friends that do and am glad they are around and willing to do that kind of work to protect our rights.

Yes.  No.

Way to many variables to answer a question like that, they are all true to some extent

There are many different specialties in law, but we often here of the "ambulance chasers" who specialize in maximizing a clients settlement for damage/loss they incurred.  These are typically the ones you hear about seeking out clients not on the criminal side.

On the criminal side, with private practice attorney's they don't typically chase after a client they generally would get a call from someone who wants them to represent them.  The person calling them could have done nothing more than look him/her up in the phone book or heard of him/her from a previous case in the news.  I've always been a proponent of interviewing criminal attorneys to have one available at any time.  You never know when you may find yourself in need of an attorney and you'd hate to be searching the yellow pages in a prison cell. 

From a payment standpoint depending on the case an attorney may take it pro bono (for free) if he has a compelling reason to do so.  Somebody who was legitimately wronged by the system, a big time case in the news (such as you describe) to get his/her name out in the news for some free advertising.  If the case isn't a pro bono type case then the attorney will typically ask for a retainer up front based on the nature of the crime.  If it's a simple misdemeanor he may only ask for $1000 or $2500 bucks or $5000 for a simple felony.  If it's a major felony they may ask for $25k or more up front before they even sign on.

So, as was already mentioned it's very complicated and an attorney can agree or disagree to represent someone.  Our legal system is far from perfect and I have a lot of issues with it, but it's still one of the best in the world.

You sister may wish to concider who would defend her if she was accused of murder or other crime.

When it comes down to it, why a lawyer takes a case can be many things.  Money may come in to play, but it is hardly the deciding factor.  Those who make the big bucks generally have lots of cases coming in and can pick the ones they want.  Those who don't have a lot of cases come in generally take what they can get.  Which lawyers get which cases comes down largely to marketing, no difference in how you choose which diet soda to suck back.

Lots of defense lawyers are in the game because it is challenging, interesting, technical work.  Many of them see it as protecting the interest of the public, so people like your sister, from actions of the state that infringe certain rights.   Protecting some scum bags rights protects everyone's rights.

It would not be accurate to say that the truth is not important for a lawyer, so whether the guy did it or not.  But lawyers are not paid to make judgments or assume the truth.  Lawyers are paid to advocate a position.  To do so you kind of need to assume all possibilities and figure out a way to present the evidence in a way that points more to the possibilities in your client's favor.  It is, at once, very easy and very difficult.

Yup...what all of these people said.

Ability to pay, publicity, personal contacts, particular interest/expertise in a part of the case, belief in innocence, probability of success all play a role.

One thing that I'm not sure was mentioned is simple capacity. There are lots of cases that many lawyers would like to take, but can't because they don't have the time/staff capacity to do so. Along with that is a question of what sort of technical studies/expert witnesses would be required. All of this plays into how much investigation/time will be required and whether or not a case fits into an attorney's workload.

Erin

My wife is the office manager and legal assistant to three criminal defense attorneys.

1. Does it for the money.

2. Does it to keep himself busy, he is already wealthy but wants to work so he will take anything and is not very good about billing for his time or making any money.

3. Seems to genuinely care about his clients. Doesn't ask if they are guilty or not, that is usually contained in the evidence. It is his job to protect his clients rights, make sure the DA does their job proving the case against them and then try to see that "justice" is done in the sentencing. 

1 and 3 need the money but 1 will take any case as long as they are paying. 2 doesn't need the money that bad (wealthy family) so he is a bit more picky on cases he will take (no child molesters or kiddie pron cases anymore).

Also all three are on the list for federal public defense cases. The feds don't employ their own public defenders like your county would. The feds keep private attorneys on a rotating list, they get a call and get assigned a client and we the taxpayer foot the bill.

So yeah, there are any number of reasons that a criminal defense attorney would take a case and I don't think that "winning" is real high on the list for most of them. Everyone is entitled to a vigorous defense of their rights and no one is guilty until convicted. 

Criminal defense attorneys typically represent people accused of crimes.  Sometimes heinous crimes.

I do criminal defense.  The big thing to remember is innocent until proven guilty - especially for horrible crimes.  So this guy is not a murderer - he is accused of murder.  That basic fact is extremely important - it was not always like that and there are still some civilized countries that do not operate on that principal.

When picking a case, there is a complex set of factors that play off each other:  can they pay, can I do a competent job, what are the facts of the case, what are the unknowns of the case, how does the potential client seem.  There are more and different ones for each case and kind of case too.  There are some things that turn me off to a case right away - a lying potential client is the worst.

About getting paid:  you would be amazed - when a family member is in trouble, even the poorest families manage to come up with what's needed to get them out of jail.

Talk to my lawyer.

So many jokes there.  Not gonna do it... Not gonna do it...

Thanks for the info. I get it. Sorry for the misspelling.

Kevin 

I seem to remember that when Robert Kardashian (you may seen/have heard of his daughters) agreed to work on OJ Simpon's defense that his wife was appalled. The two couples were friendly and Mrs Kardashian could not believe her husband would defend the man who "murdered" their friend...