Legal Profession Commons^™

Civil Vs. Criminal Legal Aid, Shaun Ossei-Owusu

All Faculty Scholarship

The past few decades have highlighted the insidious effects of poverty, particularly for poor people who lack access to legal representation. Accordingly, there have been longstanding calls for “Civil Gideon,” which refers to a right to counsel in civil cases that would address issues tied to housing, public benefits, family issues, and various areas of law that poor people are often disadvantaged by due to their lack of attorneys. This civil right to counsel would complement the analogous criminal right that has been constitutionalized. Notwithstanding the persuasive arguments made for and against Civil Gideon, it is less clear …

Why A Right: The Right To Counsel And The Ecology Of Housing Justice, Andrew Scherer

Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law

No abstract provided.

The Fight For Justice In Housing Court: From The Bronx To A Right To Counsel For All New York City Tenants, Susanna Blankley

Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law

No abstract provided.

What Gideon Did, Sara Mayeux

All Faculty Scholarship

Many accounts of Gideon v. Wainwright’s legacy focus on what Gideon did not do—its doctrinal and practical limits. For constitutional theorists, Gideon imposed a preexisting national consensus upon a few “outlier” states, and therefore did not represent a dramatic doctrinal shift. For criminal procedure scholars, advocates, and journalists, Gideon has failed, in practice, to guarantee meaningful legal help for poor people charged with crimes.

Drawing on original historical research, this Article instead chronicles what Gideon did—the doctrinal and institutional changes it inspired between 1963 and the early 1970s. Gideon shifted the legal profession’s policy consensus on indigent defense away from …

The Anniversaries Of The Right To Counsel And Thecreation Of The Public Defender’S Office,, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

There has been much celebration this year of the 50th Anniversary of the Gideon decision1 rendered by the United States Supreme Court in March of 1963. Gideon guaranteed that indigent persons accused of crime would be entitled to representation. It has been said for some time now, that the full promise of Gideon has never been realized. Nevertheless, the right to counsel in criminal cases is an important constitutional right.

2013 also marks the 120th Anniversary of the first public proposal of a public defender system which was introduced in Chicago in 1893. It also marks the 99th anniversary of …

Panel Discussion: International, National, And Local Perspectives On Civil Right To Counsel, Andrew Scherer, Martha F. Davis, Debra Gardner, Rosie Mendez, Juanita B. Newton, Adriene Holder, Laura K. Abel

Touro Law Review

The following is based on a transcript of a panel discussion which took place at An Obvious Truth: Creating an Action Blueprint for a Civil Right to Counsel in New York State, held at Touro Law Center, Central Islip, New York, in March, 2008.

Advocating For A Civil Right To Counsel In New York State, Kathryn G. Madigan

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shrinking Gideon And Expanding Alternatives To Lawyers, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay, written as part of a symposium at Washington and Lee Law School entitled Gideon at 50: Reassessing the Right to Counsel, argues that the standard academic dream of expanding the right to counsel to all criminal and major civil cases has proven to be an unattainable mirage. We have been spreading resources too thin, in the process slighting the core cases such as capital and other serious felonies that are the most complex and need the most time and money. Moreover, our legal system is overengineered, making the law too complex and legal services too expensive for …

The Grand Jury Subpoena: Is It The Prosecutor's "Ultimate Weapon" Against Defense Attorneys And Their Clients?, Tara A. Flanagan

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contingent Compensation Of Post-Conviction Counsel: A Modest Proposal To Identify Meritorious Claims And Reduce Wasteful Government Spending, Christopher Robertson

Faculty Scholarship

This contribution to a symposium on post-conviction litigation argues that the lack of properly-incentivized counsel is a primary problem with our failing system of habeas litigation. The lack of counsel causes a great flood of frivolous petitions by pro se prisoners, while also preventing prisoners with meritorious claims from getting relief. The lack of counsel, and more fundamentally, the lack of funding therefor, thus perpetuates the problem of incarceration waste. Government-funded contingent compensation of post-conviction counsel may be the most promising way to help courts identify the bona fide cases deserving of relief, providing more accurate justice and saving money …

Clinical Professors' Professional Responsibility: Preparing Law Students To Embrace Pro Bono, Douglas L. Colbert

Faculty Scholarship

This article begins by examining the current crisis in the U.S. legal system where approximately three out of four low- and middle-income litigants are denied access to counsel's representation when faced with the loss of essential rights - -a home, child custody, liberty and deportation - - and where most lawyers decline to fulfill their ethical responsibility of pro bono service to those who cannot afford private counsel. The article traces the evolving ethical standards of a lawyer's professional responsibility that today views every attorney as a public citizen having a special responsibility to the quality of justice.

The author …

Clinical Professors' Professional Responsibility: Preparing Law Students To Embrace Pro Bono, Douglas L. Colbert

Douglas L. Colbert

This article begins by examining the current crisis in the U.S. legal system where approximately three out of four low- and middle-income litigants are denied access to counsel's representation when faced with the loss of essential rights - -a home, child custody, liberty and deportation - - and where most lawyers decline to fulfill their ethical responsibility of pro bono service to those who cannot afford private counsel. The article traces the evolving ethical standards of a lawyer's professional responsibility that today views every attorney as a public citizen having a special responsibility to the quality of justice.

The author …

Protecting A Parent's Right To Counsel In Child Welfare Cases, Vivek Sankaran

Articles

A national consensus is emerging that zealous leagal representation for parents is crucial to ensure that the child welfare system produces just outcomes for children. Parents' lawyers protect important constitutional rights, prevent the unnecessary entry of children into foster care and guide parents through a complex system.

United States V. Leveto, Jennifer Steward

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Deadly Dilemma: Choices By Attorneys Representing "Innocent" Capital Defendants, Welsh S. White

Michigan Law Review

A lawyer who represents a capital defendant with a strong innocence claim must allocate her resources between the separate guilt and penalty phases of the capital case. Expending resources in preparation for a penalty trial may result in less attention to securing the acquittal on the capital charge at the guilt trial that would make the penalty phase moot. But focusing primarily on proving the defendant's innocence at the guilt trial means less preparation in the case of a guilty verdict. Once a defendant is convicted of a capital offense, a lawyer must also make strategic decisions about the penalty …

The Defunding Of The Post Conviction Defense Organizations As A Denial Of The Right To Counsel, Roscoe C. Howard Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Eleventh Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Be Compelled To Render The Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, Richard Klein

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Note To Our Readers, The Editors

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Court-Appointed Attorneys: Old Problems And New Solutions, H. Patrick Furman

Publications

No abstract provided.

Mallard V. United States District Court: Attorney May Refuse Federal Judge's Request To Represent Civil Plaintiff Proceeding In Forma Pauperis, Fred Springer

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Silence As A Trial Strategy After Strickland And Cronic: Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel?Nic : The Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel?, Jo Ellen Silberstein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ethical Issues In The Representation Of Individuals In The Commitment Process, Michael L. Perlin, Robert Sadoff

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Student Representation Of Indigent Defendants And The Sixth Amendment: On A Collision Course, Robert M. Hardaway

Cleveland State Law Review

This article will review the parallel patterns of development of clinical education and the sixth amendment, highlighting areas in which the practices of the former either conflict, or contain the potential for conflict with the latter. An analysis will be made of the present legal status of law student representation of indigent criminal defendants, with reference primarily to constitutional and sixth amendment considerations, but also to such related matters as the confidentiality of student-client communications, law student professional responsibility, and the applicability to students of state bar disciplinary rules. Finally, guidelines will be proposed regarding the proper scope of student …

Do Defendants Have An Attorney When They Have A Public Defender, James Eisenstein

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Counsel for the Poor: Criminal Defense in Urban America by Robert Hermann, Eric Single, and John Boston

The Emerging Right Of Legal Assistance For The Indigent In Civil Proceedings, Jeffrey M. Mandell

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

After the Supreme Court declared in Gideon v. Wainwright that indigents have a constitutional right to appointed counsel in criminal cases, attention turned to the possibility that a similar right could be found for civil litigants. Although there is no explicit constitutional guarantee of counsel for the civil litigant, the due process clause, which protects property rights as well as personal freedoms, arguably mandates that there be a right to professional representation of all citizens in all courts. The inability of most laymen to effectively present even a rudimentary case on their own behalf indicates that without counsel a meaningful …

Withdrawal Of Appointed Counsel From Frivolous Indigent Appeals, Michael R. Conner

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Right To Representation By Out-Of-State Attorneys In Civil Rights Cases, Edward F. Sherman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Expanding Horizons Of Legal Services--Ii, Monrad G. Paulsen

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Expanding Horizons Of Legal Services--I, Monrad G. Paulsen

West Virginia Law Review

In no country of the world are lawyers so important or so influential as they are in America. Lawyers dominate legislative bodies almost everywhere in the United States; they often provide executive leadership for business enterprize and voluntary associations. The best lawyers are respected highly and rewarded with the greatest prizes. The theme of this paper is that the services offered by the legal profession, a profession already engaged in hundreds of tasks, are rapidly expanding. Some new ways of working are emerging. Some old functions are being performed in a new manner. More resources are being provided for that …

Beaney: The Right To Counsel In American Courts, William M. Kunstler

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Right to Counsel in American Courts. By William M. Beaney