Assistant Public Defender Overview

There are certain skills that many assistant public defenders have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, interpersonal skills and problem-solving skills.

When it comes to the most important skills required to be an assistant public defender, we found that a lot of resumes listed 24.9% of assistant public defenders included criminal cases, while 13.1% of resumes included legal advice, and 6.9% of resumes included pre-trial motions. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the assistant public defender job title. But what industry to start with? Most assistant public defenders actually find jobs in the non profits and health care industries.

If you're interested in becoming an assistant public defender, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 6.6% of assistant public defenders have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.7% of assistant public defenders have master's degrees. Even though most assistant public defenders have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an assistant public defender. When we researched the most common majors for an assistant public defender, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on assistant public defender resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an assistant public defender. In fact, many assistant public defender jobs require experience in a role such as law clerk. Meanwhile, many assistant public defenders also have previous career experience in roles such as legal extern or attorney.