Are all court “appointed attorneys” employees of the Public Defender Office?
No. Under most circumstances, where you have the constitutional right to an attorney at public expense, the Court will appoint the Public Defender Office to represent your legal interests. However, in some situations, an ethical “conflict of interest” may arise that makes it impossible for the Public Defender Office to represent you or take care of your legal needs. A good example of this might be where the Public Defender Office is already representing another person in the same case. If the Court has appointed you to the Public Defender Officer, but a “conflict” is later declared by the Public Defender Office, the Court will be notified and it will then appoint an attorney from the Conflict Public Defender panel. The attorneys employed by the Conflict Public Defender panel are not employees of the Public Defender Office, even though they have been appointed by the court.
