Although many have expressed concern about the quality of defense service provided to indigent defendants, very little has been said regarding the question of what organizational conditions might actually facilitate their proper representation. This article reports some exploratory findings regarding the latter. By comparing others' research findings with observations generated through an ethnographic field study, this article describes how the organizational framework of a private, nonprofit corporation of court-appointed defense attorneys facilitated an ethical defense posture. It concludes that this corporation's organizational design appears to be a more viable model for providing proper defense representation to members of the underclass than other types of indigent defense systems.
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