Long before the Supreme Court ruled that impoverished defendants in criminal cases have a right to free counsel, Philadelphia's public defenders were working to ensure fair trials for all.
In 1934, when penniless defendants were routinely railroaded through the courts without ever seeing a lawyer, Philadelphia attorney Francis Fisher Kane helped create the Voluntary Defender Association, supported by charity and free from political interference, to represent poor people accused of crime.
Temple University Press The defender: the battle to protect the rights of the accused in philadelphia, hardcover/edward w. madeira
