The sixth amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees everybody accused of a crime the right to a lawyer. A defense attorney is a lawyer for someone who is a defendant, a person, or corporation that has been accused of a crime in a court of law. The defense attorney fights for their clients' interests in court.
A defense attorney could work as a public defender, a lawyer who represents people who are too poor to afford their own attorney. They could have their own practice or work for a private corporation. No matter who they work for, a defense attorney prepares a client's case, argues it in front of a judge, and helps their client understand their options.
The job of a defense attorney is far from easy. They often have high caseloads and work long hours until the job is done. The road to becoming a defense attorney is also tricky. They need to earn a bachelor's degree, complete law school, and pass the bar before becoming an attorney. But for many defense attorneys, the satisfaction of getting clients a second chance is worth the work.
Defense Attorney Overview
Working as a Defense Attorney
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a defense attorney. For example, did you know that they make an average of $47.58 an hour? That's $98,963 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 50,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Defense Attorney Do
There are certain skills that many defense attorneys 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 a defense attorney, we found that a lot of resumes listed 15.4% of defense attorneys included legal advice, while 11.8% of resumes included defense counsel, and 10.5% of resumes included legal documents. 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 defense attorney job title. But what industry to start with? Most defense attorneys actually find jobs in the professional and government industries.
How To Become a Defense Attorney
If you're interested in becoming a defense attorney, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 13.6% of defense attorneys have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.3% of defense attorneys have master's degrees. Even though most defense attorneys 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 a defense attorney. When we researched the most common majors for a defense attorney, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on defense attorney resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a defense attorney. In fact, many defense attorney jobs require experience in a role such as law clerk. Meanwhile, many defense attorneys also have previous career experience in roles such as attorney or internship.
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Defense Attorney Career Paths
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.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Defense Attorney
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Public Health Seattle & King County Public Defense Attorney Public Defense Attorney | Public Health Seattle & King County Public Health Seattle & King County | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $130,50901/29/2021 $130,509 |
Robert Half Workers' Comp Attorney-Defense Workers' Comp Attorney-Defense | Robert Half Robert Half | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $90,00001/28/2021 $90,000 |
King County Washington Public Defense Attorney Public Defense Attorney | King County Washington King County Washington | 01/26/2021 01/26/2021 | $70,77401/26/2021 $70,774 |
Godshall Recruiting Workers' Compensation Defense Attorney Workers' Compensation Defense Attorney | Godshall Recruiting Godshall Recruiting | 01/12/2021 01/12/2021 | $125,00001/12/2021 $125,000 |
Cowlitz County Public Defense Attorney Public Defense Attorney | Cowlitz County Cowlitz County | 11/24/2020 11/24/2020 | $70,72811/24/2020 $70,728 |
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Top Colleges for Defense Attorneys
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
3. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
4. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
5. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
6. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
7. Georgetown University
Washington, DC • Private
8. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
9. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
10. University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN • Private
Top Skills For a Defense Attorney
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, 15.4% of defense attorneys listed legal advice on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and interpersonal skills are important as well.
- Legal Advice, 15.4%
- Defense Counsel, 11.8%
- Legal Documents, 10.5%
- Personal Injury Cases, 9.7%
- Law Firm, 8.1%
- Other Skills, 44.5% See All Defense Attorney Skills
Best States For a Defense Attorney
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a defense attorney. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, California, Nevada, and New York. Defense attorneys make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $104,050. Whereas in California and Nevada, they would average $103,939 and $97,707, respectively. While defense attorneys would only make an average of $97,029 in New York, 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
$103,939
Avg. Salary
2. District of Columbia
$100,044
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$97,030
Avg. Salary