When you are facing a charged with drunk driving and have to stand up against the court, you have the option to be able to represent yourself in the court of law, have a public defender given to you to work on your case, or you could hire an attorney to be able to represent your case to keep your from paying extravagant fees or even being sent to prison for a charge.
While a public defender will typically have an extensive amount of experience in the court, their experience can be so varied that they are more of a jack of all trades more than they are a specialized attorney that can research your case as well as know the ins and outs of the type of case you are going to have to present to the court.
There are a some institutional advantages to having hired a public defender, but there is a chance that a public defender assigned to you by the court will not give you the type of care that you need, especially if your case has special facts and clues that only an experienced attorney who has specialized their career in your type of case. Then there is the type of public defender who are known for doing little more than trying to stop prosecutors from obtaining a guilty pleas, especially since once you have a public defender assigned to you, it's very rare that you get another one assigned to you to defend you in court.
A private criminal defense lawyer will be able to most definitely devote more time to your case and give you more personal attention than a public defender ever could. The quality of one of these DUI lawyers or criminal defense attorneys will be what truly separate them from the rest. With some research, you'll find the right lawyer for your case.