There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an assistant public defender. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.68 an hour? That's $55,487 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 50,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
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.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of attorney you might progress to a role such as partner eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title partner.
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Stanford, CA • Private
Cambridge, MA • Private
Durham, NC • Private
Philadelphia, PA • Private
New Haven, CT • Private
Ithaca, NY • Private
Washington, DC • Private
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
Evanston, IL • Private
Notre Dame, IN • Private
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 24.9% of assistant public defenders listed criminal cases on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and interpersonal skills are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an assistant public defender. The best states for people in this position are California, Hawaii, Colorado, and Nevada. Assistant public defenders make the most in California with an average salary of $88,683. Whereas in Hawaii and Colorado, they would average $78,699 and $77,874, respectively. While assistant public defenders would only make an average of $76,616 in Nevada, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$88,684
Avg. Salary
2. Colorado
$77,874
Avg. Salary
3. District of Columbia
$69,755
Avg. Salary