I've been on both sides of this question on several occasions. Like other human beings, lawyers can range from dedicated to deluded, from gifted to gutless, from caring to careless.
I've served on juries where attorneys on both sides were so incompetent (and the judge too) that I could never decide until the last minute which way to vote. In one case the side that was clearly winning - and I mean without any doubt whatsoever - had their attorney talk them into a low-end settlement. All of us on the jury wondered if the guy had been paid off by the other side.
I've been represented by attorneys in a few situations and challenged by a couple. One divorce attorney called me at work in the middle of the day while I was in a meeting with higher management and threatened me. I turned on the speaker phone and let him rant. "Give your ex-wife $$$$$ or you'll never see your kids again!!! (The amount he was asking per month was twice my take-home pay.)" One of my guests reached in his pocket and pulled out a card from his own personal attorney. "Just tell the jerk on the phone that you will be represented by this fellow." When I mentioned the other lawyers name - there was silence at the other end. "I'll get back to you..." was his very softly-spoken response." And in fact, I got custody of my kids and my wife ended up paying me some ridiculously low child support - only because I didn't want to do any more damage to her than her attorney had already done.
Some criminal attorneys are lazy - especially in domestic violence cases. They always seem to want the accused to plea - even when the plea will involve jail time. One private attorney shared with me his opinion of most Public Defenders: "They are so overworked, understaffed, and usually the newest kids on the block, that 90% of them won't even remember your name when addressing the judge. They will confuse the details of your case with those of ten others they are working on. Their only real goal in life is to get out of the PD's office on on their own or moved to the District Attorney's office as soon as possible."
JV