a public defender

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How essential is it to like your client? Is it important, even a consideration? Is it possible to like your clients? Mark Bennett wrote a few days ago about this topic. He noted the differences between civil practice and criminal practice:

Unlike Dan, most criminal lawyers are a) not representing companies; and b) not forming longterm attorney-client relationships. Our clients are people, and if all goes well they will never be in trouble again.

…

It’s nice to like our clients, but I don’t think it’s crucial. What do you think?

I’d like to point out a further distinction: public defender and private practitioner. The private practitioner can actually choose his clients. He gets to meet with them, listen to their story, decide if he wants to take the case. Involved in that decision is an evaluation of the client’s personality. However minimal the impact a client’s personality has on the decision to represent him, I suspect it plays some role.

We public defenders have no choice. If it’s my arraignment day, you’re my client. I get whatever comes to me in the rotation.

Having said all that, I agree with his conclusion. It would be nice to like the client, but it’s not necessary. Our responsibility is to the client, his liberty and his Constitutional rights. Nowhere does it say that we have to like them. I would be lying, however, if I didn’t say that having a good relationship with a client makes my job easier.

It’s not that I wouldn’t work as hard for a client that yelled at me, called me a “public pretender” or accused me of being in cahoots with the State, it just wouldn’t be as much fun as working with the client that is nice, understanding and appreciative. It is human nature and as much as some don’t want to believe it, we are human too.

Here’s the story of an Ohio man standing trial for robbery of a church. Apparently, he was unhappy with his lawyer and the judge, at one point telling the judge that since she was Catholic and he was charged with robbing a church, he couldn’t get a fair trial.

The important part (and what leads to this post) is that he repeatedly asked for a new lawyer and was turned down each time. So when he was wheeled in to start jury selection, he kicked his lawyer and had to be subdued. He continued to ask for a new lawyer and was denied again.

Would you say there’s been a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship when the client attacks the attorney? Is that a good enough time for appointment of new counsel? I know we don’t want to condone this behavior and reward it by immediately appointing new counsel - all clients would have to do is get pissy with their lawyer and threaten to attack them to get new representation - but when the threat is translated into action, I’d think it would be appropriate for either the lawyer to withdraw from the case or for the judge to appoint replacement counsel.

What do you think? Would you seek to withdraw your appearance?

Watch the incident caught on tape:

Asks this WSJ law blog post.

“Depression, stress, career issues and addictions . . . we understand what it’s like to face personal problems within the profession.” That’s the caption on an advertisement run by a Beantown-based organization called Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers (LCL). LCL was founded nearly 30 years ago mostly as a support group for lawyers with drinking problems. But over the years, as the stress level of practicing law has spiked, lawyers seek its services for different reasons.

Today, attorneys contact LCL mainly for help battling depression. According to the Globe, the shift mirrors reinforces studies showing that lawyers are more depressed than those in any other occupation. Work life, especially at big firms, can be emotionally draining. “Intense deadlines, staggering billable-hour requirements, and grinding hours are routine. Even veteran lawyers often find themselves disillusioned by the increasingly business-like practice of law.”

Other issues reportedly contribute to the practice’s toll. The conflict-driven nature of the profession plays a role. And the personality type frequently drawn to the law — perfectionist, high-achieving — is particularly vulnerable to becoming depressed, the article says.

The post then invites comments and boy, comments there are! We lawyers sure do love to talk. 86 comments as of the time of writing this post. Some of them are extremely entertaining; some sensible. So. Are you an emotional wreck? Are you?

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