Part IV - THE WRAP-UP

Chapter 12

For caring attorneys, the profession of public defense is full of losses, frustrations, and trauma. Yet, it also produces “little” triumphs and victories; and those wins, no matter how “small,” are significant and impactful. Defenders chose to do this work not for “the glory,” which often proves illusory anyhow. They chose this work because they wanted to help those who were powerless; and often, the powerless in New York City resembled the Defenders in more ways than one. Defenders found satisfaction in being able to provide their clients with some semblance of dignity within a system ruthlessly skilled at stripping their clients of it. Secondarily, they shattered common perceptions about themselves as Black attorneys, demanding respect in a system unaccustomed to seeing African Americans as professionals. And while other Black actors in the judicial system often conformed to it—and some of them became its biggest champions and apologists—Defenders defied the system in the most basic manner: they fought for the people that the system and society abhors.

This Part has only one chapter. This chapter has only one question. This question is the only one in the entire book that features an answer from every Defender interviewed. And the question requires Defenders to speak of at least one specific defiance of the system; it asks Defenders to tell of a moment in which they were proud.