I'm no longer a public defender, but I'll reiterate what everyone has already said except as to one.

The worst part of the job is that there's no real future in it. Maybe it's different in counties where you can transition to being one of the good old boy solo practitioners after hanging around for enough time, but even then I imagine that's not really a sure thing / future.

I say this in the sense that you sign up as a PD. Let's say your at the federal level. The money is good, as long as you don't think about big law, and the job is fun. The hours are tough but not terrible. Your job responsibilities are tough but exciting.

Fast forward ten years: it's exactly the same.

Fast forward ten years: it's exactly the same.

There's no real transition out of being a PD. There's some people that jump into private practice, but it's long and difficult because as a PD you're not building a client base. Your defending people without money against charges most people with money will never be involved with (and if they are they're snagging a big firm that hires straight from law school or clerks, with some AUSA).

That's the thing that's tough. There's no real upward mobility. You get a yearly raise. You argue about sentencing a lot. The year ends. You get another raise, maybe even 3%! It's sort of depressing, ultimately, how much work you do knowing that it doesn't really matter-matter to your career.