Teachers, cops, and firemen are underpaid and overworked. But all three are the thing an 8 year old wants to be for Halloween.
Criminal defense attorneys are more overworked, more underpaid and broadly despised.
From Radley Balko, the crim law guy at the WaPo, a great piece on Sam Dalton, a man who did God's work:
Perhaps most importantly, Dalton served as counsel to the condemned. It's hard to imagine a job in the legal profession more difficult than defending someone in a death-penalty case. The judge will likely be a former prosecutor. The prosecutor may have withheld evidence that could help your client, but you likely won't find out until it's too late, and the prosecutor will not be held accountable for it. The state will outspend you, and it won't even be close. The jury will be death-qualified, which means it will be composed of people who aren't morally opposed to the death penalty. Of course, to remove those who oppose the death penalty from a jury also removes the jurors more likely to be skeptical of cops, prosecutors and the system in general. It means the jury will be less skeptical, more deferential to power . . . and more likely to dislike defense attorneys.