A Look at the Role of Public Defenders By Elliott Bennett-Guerrero

Introduction• Formerly a professor of anesthesiology at Duke University,

Elliott Bennett-Guerrero currently serves as the vice chair for clinical research at Stony Brook School of Medicine in New York. In addition to his work in the medical research industry, Elliott Bennett-Guerrero supports a University of Colorado Law School scholarship that benefits students pursuing a career as a public defender.

Employed and compensated by the government, a public defender is an attorney who provides pro bono legal services to defendants who cannot afford a defense on their own. In order to garner the services of a public defender, defendants may need to outline their financial history in an official document.

Role of Public Defenders• This document often requires them to include information

such as yearly income, debts owed, and assets retained.

Though private attorneys get significant attention in the legal industry, there are advantages to working with a public defender. For example, a public defender often works with the same prosecutors and judges daily, and may have a better understanding about their methodologies, in regard to how they typically perform their work. Additionally, public defenders tend to focus on certain areas of law, such as DUI or labor law, and therefore frequently have a current grasp on new legal developments in their field.