The National Law Journal has it's annual 40 under 40 list of lawyers and And as usual there is not a single front line defender or civil legal aid lawyer among them.
There are a number of prosecutors (of course there are) a few other government lawyers, a few academics a bunch of corporate tools, and one or two token 'do gooders' but no-one on the defense side. And no one who does the tough front line stuff. (They had to reach down to a 29 year old at CCR just to fill the impact litigation niche).
I find this offensive. It is a perfect reflection of just how poorly the public defender community is viewed by the larger legal community. Unlike being a prosecutor, PD work is dismissed. It doesn't occur to most people that many of the PD's (I know this having been invoved in hiring them over the years) have fancier degrees, sharper minds and quicker tongues than most of the corporate lawyers at the fancy wall street firms.
It is high time that they be included in lists like these.
my controversial book about a day in my life as Public Defender in the South Bronx is finally available for Kindle and Ipad.
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