Skip to content
PreLaw Advisor
  • Law school directorySearch and filter every school
  • Compare schoolsUp to four side by side
  • Areas of lawWhat lawyers do, and where it is taught
  • Degrees and program typesJ.D. formats, LL.M. and more
  • Costs and outcomesTuition, employment, bar passage
  • Admissions guideHow an application is put together
  • Application plannerChecklists, essays, deadlines
  • Law schools worldwideSchools in over a hundred countries
  • Data and methodologyWhere every figure comes from

↑↓ to move · Enter to open · Esc to close

Part of Criminal Law

Criminal Defense

Representing people accused or convicted of crimes.

Find schools with programsAll areas of law

What this area covers

Defense lawyers protect the rights of the accused at every stage. Public defenders represent people who cannot afford counsel; private defense lawyers take retained clients.

Also called: Defense Practice, Indigent Defense, Public Defense.

Typical legal work

  • Advising clients after arrest and at arraignment
  • Challenging evidence and negotiating pleas
  • Trying cases and advocating at sentencing

Where lawyers work

  • Public defender offices
  • Private defense firms
  • Nonprofit and advocacy organizations

A setting is where you work; an area is what the work is about. The same area is practised in very different settings.

Schools with verified programs

A school is listed here only when its own website names a concentration, certificate, clinic, center or field placement in Criminal Defense. Schools are in alphabetical order. The list is not a ranking, and a school that is absent may still teach the subject.

52 schools · 61 clinics · 3 externships and field placements

Filter these schools in the directory

Program types counted as evidence: clinics, certificates, concentrations and specializations, centers and institutes, externships and field placements. Joint degrees and advanced degrees are described under Degrees & program types.

Sources

These references informed what the area covers. The description above is PreLaw Advisor’s own and does not reproduce their text.

  1. 1.American Bar Association. Criminal Justice Section (opens in a new tab) Retrieved Sep 2026.
  2. 2.American Bar Association. Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense (opens in a new tab) Retrieved Sep 2026.

Description reviewed Sep 2026. Each school program links to the page it was verified against.

Criminal Defense — areas of law · PreLaw Advisor