>My FIL tells this story. He was a newly-minted lawyer. He used to go sit in court to learn. One day, he was there and a case came in where a criminal defendant needed a lawyer. The judge asked who was a lawyer in the room. FIL raises his hand. He was assigned the case. He had no intention of practicing criminal law and said as much. Didn't matter; the case was his. AFAIK, it's the only criminal case he ever defended.
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>On a more general note, only people who don't understand our justice system attack lawyers for defending criminals. Our system requires that the accused have counsel.

At that point, they may be criminals or not. If the lawyer loses the case, they become criminals. Which is, I guess, a side effect of the system.