“If we’ve got somebody who needs a lawyer, they’re quick to respond,” Alford said. “I use them for juvenile delinquents — that’s part of their contract.”

The contract group could have as many as five or six preliminary hearings in one day, Hilfiger said.

“You know what they are and plan on it — keep good records and keep ahead,” Hilfiger said.

The attorneys evaluate the cases and talk to the defendants. They have the experience to know some cases require a preliminary hearing to resolve some issues before they can plead a case out or go to trial, he said.

“You sort of know if you shouldn’t take a case to a jury,” Hilfiger said.

Some people on a jury don’t realize some kind of stuff is even going on in this world, he said.

When you have 12 people on a jury, it’s usually people with different backgrounds and tremendous differences of opinion, Hilfiger said.

“Ninety-five percent of the time we can look at the charge filed and discovery (evidence) and we and the DA sort of know what’s going to happen,” Hilfiger said. “Some cases you know are going to have to go to trial.”

Some defendants have to be told they don’t stand a chance.

“Once they come to the realization of what’s happening, they feel a little bit better about it,” Hilfiger said. “You just have to do what you can to help them. Some are hard to deal with.”

They are in jail because they can’t work things out themselves. And some, there’s just no resolving them of responsibility, he said.

A prosecutor can have a tremendous upper hand — and a defense attorney evens that out, Hilfiger said. And when the prosecutor and the defense attorney can’t agree and negotiate a plea agreement, a judge or jury evens it out, he said.

Different cases are in different places in the system. When defense attorneys are waiting on hearing dates to move a case forward, defendants don’t always understand that, he said.

You could get overwhelmed with the numbers if you don’t have everything lined up, Hilfiger said.

“The only complaints (about indigent defense lawyers) are from people who want a lot of attention — guys in jail,” Alford said.