criminal law and courts Chapter nine

Defense attorney

The lawyer who advises, represents, and acts for the defendant

All defense attorneys perform essentially the same task

Helping criminal defendants navigate the sometimes rough waters of the justice process

The defense attorney serves as

The accused counselor and advocate with courage and devotion to render effective quality representation

Good defense attorneys helping function is multifaceted

They provide a knowledgeable, objective perspective on what the defendant situation is and what is likely to happen should his or her case go to trial.

They understand the law and legal rights, including court interpretations of federal and state constitutions.

They are familiar with local court customs and procedures

They understand the possible hidden costs of Various outcomes, particularly those associated with a plea of guilty.

They Immerse themselves in and spend time on the case.

They gather Other information from various sources, including the prosecution's witnesses.

They often hire and manage investigators, who assist in building the defense case.

if they're client is found guilty, they can bring the case to the next level on appeal and in doing so help change the content of the law.

Where does a history of criminal defense come from?

It can be traced back to ancient Rome When Emperor Claudius legalized the practice of law and allowed the first lawyers to supply their craft for a fee

Jurisconsults

term created by Rome, these individuals did not practice law in the sense that lawyers do today but law was more of a hobby

Legal training lasting approximately four years was necessary beginning what year

Sixth century

Criminal defense attorneys became significant players in the criminal process around what time?

seventeen thirties

By the time of the American Revolution there were fewer than how many lawyers in Massachusetts that had a population of around two hundred thousand

A hundred lawyers

Commentaries on the laws of England

Became a favorite with aspiring lawyers, given the relative lack of legal text, by some provided a convenient source for the comprehensive study of law and legal principles and Had a considerable influence on the legal profession

The number of lawyers surged after what?

The American Revolution

Litchfield school founded in 1784 and located in Connecticut

The instructors at Litchfield were said to be the first law instructors who broke the study of law into distinct topical areas, furthering fueling growth in the legal profession

When did Harvard Law establish its own law school

1817

There were approximately 15 law schools in 1850 but in 1900 how many have been established?

A hundred

By 1876 the law school curriculum was increased to what?

A three year program, and students were required to pass an exam between their first and second years of education in order to continue

Case method Ofteaching at Harvard

Teachers replaced lectures and textbooks with books containing actual cases. Use a Socratic method of teaching, a confrontational approach that is intended to improve students' critical thinking in order to present the cases. The training for students to think like lawyers by pitting students against instructors in a spirited argument intended to reveal the truth

In the 1960s what made a legal career highly desirable?

Concern with civil rights, poverty, other social problems

National Association of criminal defense lawyers

The leading professional organization for defense attorneys in the United States

According to the ABA There are now more than how many licensed attorneys working in the US

1.1 million

The NACDL, themain profession Association for defense attorneys in the United States both nearly how many members and estimates affiliated organizations at the local state, international level have more than how many additional members

13,000 and 35,000

Criminal defense attorneys fall into two general categories, what are they?

Attorneys who are privately retained, and attorneys who represent indigent defendants.

Legal fees in a typical felony case can cost about how much?

25,000

Retainer

An amount paid by criminal defense to his or her defense attorney in order to engage the attorney services, also called retaining fee

Attorneys often take civil cases in exchange for what

In exchange for a percentage of the award if the plaintiff is successful, in contrast, attorneys and criminal cases typically require their clients to pay a retainer fee

What percentage of state defendants received appointed counsel

82 Percent

Roughly what percentage of Defendants charged with federal law violations retain their own attorneys

30 percent

The difference between state and federal courts

Federal courts often prosecute higher profile cases with wealthier clients

Private attorneys are the norm in regulatory cases but are the exception when?

The defendant is charged with a violent crime in federal court

Conviction rates for indigent defendants and those with their own lawyers were about the same in what courts

Federal and state

About ninety percent of the federal defendants and seventy percent of the defendants in the most populous countries were found guilty regardless of what

The type of attorney

88% compared to 77% in federal courts and seventy one percent compared to fifty four percent in the most populous counties

Publicly financed attorneys were incarcerated at a higher rate than those defendants

What are the indigent defense systems?

Assigned Counsel, contract model, public defender

Assigned Counsel

Appointment From a list of private bar members who accept cases on a judge by judge, court by court, or case by case basis

Contract model

A method of appointing council that uses non-salaried individual private attorneys, bar associations, law firms, consortiums Or groups of attorneys, or nonprofit corporations that contract with the funding source to provide court appointed representation in a jurisdiction, excluding public defender programs primarily funded by an awarded contract

Public defender

The council appointed from a salaried staff of fool or part-time attorneys who renders criminal indigent defense services through either a public or private nonprofit organization or is a direct government paid employee

According to one count, the 100 most populous counties in the United States spend more than how much on Indigent defense

One billion

The American Bar Association describes indigent defense representation as being in a state of crisis because of what

High caseloads and low productivity

What percentage of justice expenditures are devoted to the representation of indigent defendants

Only three percent

Assigned Council is selected to represent indigent clients in one of two ways

Ad hoc assigned counsel system, and coordinated assigned counsel system

ad hoc assigned counsel system

A method for pointing legal assistance in which the judge chooses a defense attorney on a case by case basis.

The system has been criticized because it can lead to favoritism and patronage and does not account for the experience levels or qualifications of the attorneys

Coordinated assigned counsel system

A method for appointing legal assistance that relies on a coordinator who chooses the attorney

This insurance consistency and fairness in terms of who is selected, and it can be structured such that attorneys are required to meet minimal qualification standards

Assigned counsel systems are most used where

Rural areas

Counsel Are paid according to set rates Usually on a

Hourly basis or on a Per Case basis

Average compensation is somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty dollars per hour but it can be as high as what

a hundred dollars per hour

Contract model

The state, county, or other jurisdictional authority contracts with private attorneys who provide defense services

May work for private firms, Bar Association's, nonprofit organizations that specialize in providing defense services to Indigent defenders

What are the two main types of contracts for defense services

Fixed price contracts and fixed fee contracts

Fixed price contract

a fee agreement for appointed Defense Council fees were a law firm agrees to accept an unspecified number of cases for a single annual flat fee

Fixed fee contract

A fee agreement for appointed legal defense Whereby a law firm contracts to provide a defense representation in a fixed number of cases for a fixed fee per case

Why do many people prefer the fixed fee contract

They help funding authorities predict with near certainty what their defense related expenses will be for the upcoming year, also they have a number of fixed cases for a fixed fee per case helping to ensure a manageable workload and equal treatment across cases

Where did the first public defender program in the United States open

Los Angeles in nineteen thirteen

What is the dominant model for delivery of defense services to indigent defendants

Public defender

Public defender systems rely on what

Full or part time attorneys who do nothing but represent indigent defendants

In Los Angeles there are more than how many licensed attorneys

Six hundred licensed public defense attorneys

Craft of Defense attorneys

Roy Fleming stated that criminal defense work is truly a craft because there is a concern with efficiency in decisions made by defense attorneys

Insider justice

Manipulators of the process, cop out artist, creators and protectors of routine

Myth of the zealous advocate

abraham Blumberg debunked the myth that defense attorneys are zealous advocates for their clients and are instead double agents who function as cause in the wheel of a largely non-adversarial plea bargaining process

Double agent

An attorney who appears to work for one side but instead works for another, also, a defense attorney who looks out for his or her own interest more than the interest of the defendant

beleaguer dealer

Uphoff Concluded that the best characterization of defense attorneys today is that of the beleaguered dealer

Beleaguered

Means struggling against difficulty, and in the defense context, this difficulty can be the demands of having a high caseload or being confronted with the client who cannot afford much more than putting up a retainer for private council

Public clients

A client who receives a court appointed attorney

Roy Fleming found the attorneys report that public clients are less trusting than who

Private clients

Defendants perceptions of their attorneys

Researchers focusing on the attorney client relationship have found that it is important. A second line of research concerns The trust that defendants display toward their attorneys

Public perceptions of defense attorneys

Recent advertising media help portrayed attorneys as everything from sharks in a feeding frenzy to rodeo cattle

Defense attorney sa Satisfaction with their work

The attorneys that make the most money are said that have been the least unsatisfied with their job

The different types of ethical dilemmas for the defense

Confidential confession, client perjury, defense receipt of physical evidence, and problems with the defendants prior record

confidential confession

if the defendant confesses to the crime only to his attorney

client purjury

asks the question of what if the defense attorney is away that the defendant lied on the stand, does this not conflict with a defense attorneys obligation to employ consistent with the truth

defense receipt of physical evidence

asks the question of what does the defense attorney do if the defendant gives them evidence related to the crime

problems with defendants prior record

asks the question of what is an attorney supposed to do if asked about the defendants prior record, and is unable to mislead the court

The ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility was first adopted in

1908

NACDL

seeks to foster integrity, independence, and expertise in the criminal defense profession

Often publishers ethics opinions concerned with how defense lawyers should act in situations ranging from clients who lie to jail conversations that are monitored

National Legal Aid and Defender Association

A professional organization for defense attorneys in the United States that is roughly equivalent to the National Association of criminal defense lawyers but that is mainly focused on defense attorneys who provide aid to indigent defendants

Code of conduct for federal public defender employees

A publication of the administrative office of the US courts

Death row volunteering

A phenomenon involving a death row inmate making a decision to stop appealing and let the sentence be carried out