“In all criminal proceedings, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district in which the crime was committed, the which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; confront the witnesses against him; have a mandatory process to obtain witnesses in your favor and have the assistance of a lawyer for your defense. (U.S. Constitution, 8th Amendment) As stated in the Constitution, the right to counsel is a fundamental right in our justice system. The role of the public defender's office is of the utmost importance and rightly so; several arrests are made every day in connection with all types of crimes. As a result, many of those facing charges will hire an attorney to provide them with legal assistance. However, it is no secret that legal fees can be quite expensive and not everyone can afford to spend such large sums of money at any given time. To enable equal access, the government spends millions of taxpayer dollars on the public defense system. These offices and their employees are considered part of the Judiciary. Their purpose is to provide indigent defendants with access to qualified lawyers, who in turn provide them with free legal assistance regarding their respective cases. However, with such a large and important task, this system presents key issues that raise the following questions: Is there a standard for lawyer service that is respected by public defenders? Do these lawyers receive adequate training and funding to fairly represent indigent defendants? Defendants should be appointed attorneys who are equal to...... half of the document ......r: The case for a structural injunction to improve indigent defense services” The Yale Law Journal 101.2 (1991) : 481- 504.• Fahringer, Philip. “Equal Protection and the indigent defendant: Griffin and his progeny” Stanford Law Review 16.22 (1964): 394-415.• Ogletree, Charles J. “An Essay on the New Public Defender for the 21st Century” Law and Contemporary Problems 58.1 ( 1995): 81-93.• Schwarzer, William W. “Dealing with an Incompetent Lawyer: The Role of the Trial Judge” Harvard Law Review 93.4 (1980): 633-669.• Kemper, Bob. "Right to legal advice: a historic decision does not keep its promises" nacdl.org. National Association of Criminal Lawyers, np web. September 2009.• “Right to legal advice” schr.org. The Legal Department of the Southern Center for Human Rights, ndnp• Siegel, Larry. Essentials of criminal justice. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.