Originally Posted by scoreman

Most defense attorneys are former public defenders or prosecutors, not cops unless the cop leaves LE and goes to law school.

Very few of the top % of any graduating law class go and work for the government. Those that do want to do criminal work nearly always work as a Public Defender or prosecutor. You are wrong about the top students going into private practice first. The reason why most lawyers work for the state instead of private practice is that you get to do actual trial work and not sit in the law library shepherdizing and pulling case law. Private firms will not stick novice attorneys into court. Their paying clients would crap big bricks and go hire another firm if their day in court was Rookie Trial Litigation 101.