The right to defense is enshrined in all modern legal norms, for the archaic sophistic dilemma is no longer valid when demanding the necessity of defense is denied, starting from the erroneous assessment that: either the accused is innocent, and then he does not need a defender, or he is guilty, and his defense is no longer necessary. Because the right to defense has not been considered, in the modern doctrine as a mere law, but as a principle inherent in the rule of law, which aligns with the concept of modern human rights, it was passed to the norms of international law and has been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950. A basic interest of the state is to ensure the provision of free legal assistance to categories of citizens at the request of the criminal prosecution bodies or the court. But more and more often the question arises of the impossibility of realization in the current conditions of chronic insufficiency of state means. The fees of ex officio lawyers are lower than the average fees of lawyers in the country, and lawyers usually rightly regard them as insufficient.