Here is the short answer: a public defender is a fully licensed criminal defense lawyer, and many are very good at the job. The real differences between a public defender and hired counsel are not talent — they are choice, time, and continuity. You do not choose which public defender you get, you share their attention with a heavy caseload, and their representation typically ends when the case does. When you hire private counsel, you choose the specific lawyers who will stand next to you, and you can keep the same lawyers from arraignment through trial and, if necessary, appeal.
What a public defender is — and is not
If you are charged with a crime in Cuyahoga County and cannot afford a lawyer, the court will appoint one — a public defender or assigned counsel. That is a constitutional right, and it matters. Public defenders appear in the same courtrooms every day, know the judges and prosecutors, and try cases regularly.
What a public defender is not is chosen. You are assigned whoever is available, and if your case is reassigned, you start over with someone new. You also cannot control how much time your lawyer has: public defense caseloads are famously heavy, which limits how much investigation, motion practice, and preparation any single case can receive — not because the lawyer does not care, but because the hours do not exist.
What changes when you hire counsel
When you hire a private criminal defense firm, three things change:
You pick the lawyer. You can look at the specific attorney's trial record, their appellate work, and how they handle cases like yours — before you commit. At Moran & Fisher there are no associates to be handed off to: the partners who take your call are the partners who try the case.
Your case gets the hours it needs. A private firm controls its own caseload. That is the practical difference clients feel: motions to suppress that get fully investigated and briefed, experts consulted when the evidence calls for it, and trial preparation measured by what the case needs rather than what the calendar allows.
The same lawyers can see it through. Most criminal cases do not end at the verdict. Sentencing, appeal, judicial release, post-conviction petitions — continuity matters, and appellate issues are best preserved during trial by lawyers who know how an appeal is won. That is rare in either public or private practice; it is the core of how this firm works.
When keeping your public defender makes sense
Honesty cuts both ways. If your charge is minor, the evidence is straightforward, and the likely outcome is a standard resolution, an experienced public defender may serve you well — and hiring private counsel will not change the facts of the case. No lawyer, hired or appointed, can ethically promise an outcome.
The calculus changes as the stakes rise. Serious felonies, cases likely to be tried, cases with suppression issues, and cases where a conviction means prison or a lifetime consequence are where choice, time, and continuity are worth the most.
You can switch — and it costs nothing to ask
Having a public defender today does not lock you in. Defendants substitute retained counsel at every stage of a case, and earlier is better: options close as deadlines pass and decisions get made.
If you are weighing the decision, a consultation costs nothing and is confidential. We will tell you honestly what a private defense would add in your specific case — including when the answer is "keep the lawyer you have."