From the very beginning, Benjamin D. Goldberg knew he wanted to be a public defender. And he did all the right things to make that happen.

Now Goldberg, 30, has been plucked from his public defender post in North Georgia to enter private practice with an Atlanta lawyer known for taking high-profile cases. If he finds himself making lots of headlines, as well, it will probably all come back to his dedication to a little traffic case that he took all the way.