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When Mental Health Meets “The One-Armed Man” Defense: How Courts Should Deal With Mccoy Defendants, Farid Seyyedi
When Mental Health Meets “The One-Armed Man” Defense: How Courts Should Deal With Mccoy Defendants, Farid Seyyedi
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
The Supreme Court’s opinion in McCoy v. Louisiana held that a defendant has a constitutional right to insist their attorney not concede guilt as to any element of an offense, even if doing so is the only reasonable trial strategy to give the defendant a chance at life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Under McCoy’s holding, a defendant can insist on maintaining their innocence—even in the face of overwhelming evidence—and force their attorney to pursue a defense that will land them on death row. The Supreme Court’s holding makes clear that a strategic concession of guilt at trial—over …
Professional Responsibility For The Pro Se Attorney., Margaret Raymond
Professional Responsibility For The Pro Se Attorney., Margaret Raymond
St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics
This Article considers how pro se lawyers should be treated under the law of professional responsibility. While courts have addressed whether various aspects of the law of lawyering should be applied to lawyers acting pro se, they have not done so systematically. The Article first demonstrates that the law is not consistent in its treatment of pro se lawyers. It then argues that a purpose-based approach to the issue provides a consistent, rational, and reproducible way to analyze the question. It concludes that whether a particular rule of professional responsibility should apply to a pro se lawyer should be driven …