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Too Much Heart And Not Enough Heat: The Short Life And Fractured Ego Of The Empathic, Heroic Public Defender, Abbe Smith

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this Article I will examine Professor Ogletree's paradigm for motivating and sustaining public defenders ten years after he proposed it. I will discuss whether Professor Ogletree's paradigm works for defenders in the predominantly high-volume, urban settings in which they practice, and if so, for how long. If the paradigm works for short-term defenders only - or those with smaller caseloads - then perhaps it is a temporary, not a sustaining, motivation. I will examine whether the paradigm is helpful- on an aspirational level if nothing else – or whether it emphasizes motivations that are ultimately self-defeating. After discussing Professor …