Where I live, insurance for civil litigation is actually pretty cheap. For criminal cases, my understanding is that in a lot of places you will be given a lawyer if you cannot pay for one as a defendant.

They've been slowly bleeding those systems dry, putting caps on how much they'll pay and restricting who gets access.

Most countries also give you a lawyer if you need it, no? Like, you get public defenders in the US?

Not for civil cases. And the reputation of public defenders for criminal cases is not particularly good.

In Denmark there is "fri process" that will ensure a lawyer is provided when really needed and you can't afford it – my guess is that other countries have similar systems.

The problem is that, most of the time, those lawyers are so loaded with cases that they cannot provide you full representation.

Ask any US Federal DA or US Federal Public Defender who you know to be honest. Any.

It may differ in your country, but it is unlikely.

> It may differ in your country, but it is unlikely.

It differs in my country, and it is very likely. The US follows an anglo approach to law. No country in the EU follows that – I do understand that it is the easiest to assume that other countries work like you expect, though not very productive.

> Ask any US Federal DA

There is no such thing as a “US Federal DA”.

I assume you mean a US Attorney. OTOH, US Attorneys and Federal Public Defenders (in the judicial districts that have them, its a district by district decision under the governing law) may not be the most knowledgeablr about this since most cases are tried in state court and the federal indigent defense delivery system is very different from most state systems, both in structural model and caseload.