a public defender

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Thanks for all the e-mails pointing me to the public defender study. I guess since the NYT published an article about it today, Big Blawg is posting about it. However, the study was first made available almost 3 weeks ago, when I posted about it here. For those who missed it the first time and want to know what its about, read my post linked to above and then here are some new posts about it.

The news story does have one interesting quote, though:

David Carroll, the research director for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, said the study’s most important point was economic. “There is,” Mr. Carroll said, “a cost savings in establishing staff public defender offices.”

Yes, there is.

 Slate has this powerful piece today about the state of the criminal justice system in New Orleans and the role of big law in assisting its resurrection.

Law firms are the cavalry of the legal world. Disaster strikes, and the firms, with their thousands of lawyers and millions of dollars, ride into town to clean up the mess. But what happens when the cavalry doesn’t show?

That’s the situation in New Orleans, where almost two years after Katrina, the criminal-defense system is still in a state of emergency. Public defense was never the city’s strength: When the levees broke, there were about 7,000 criminal defendants waiting to see a state-appointed lawyer. Immediately after the storm, the city jailed roughly 5,000 of them, many on shaky legal grounds. Most remained locked up for over a year before speaking with a lawyer. The public defender’s office is slowly working through the backlog, but is still overwhelmed. It’s a situation public defenders bitterly call “Gitmo on the Bayou.”

The initial help did arrive: law students taking trips down to NOLA; public defenders from other states spending months helping out. However, as the article points out, that is a piecemeal and slow process. So whither the money and clout of Big Law?

To be fair, big law has done a lot for the region. Firms donated thousands of hours to the legal rebuilding effort, sending lawyers down to help with FEMA appeals, small-business recovery, and Road Home grants. The Mississippi Center for Justice, a Jackson-based nonprofit founded in 2003, convinced 19 law firms to donate 8,100 hours last year, adding up to a value of $3 million. Most of this work, however, has been on civil matters.

So as the criminal justice system goes to waste; defendants sit in jail for over a year without once talking to a lawyer; judges find the funding system unconstitutional, can Big Law do anything to help? The article suggests that Big Law can file a lawsuit.

Firms are great at impact litigation. Be it a suit against a city, state, or large public institution, firms have pushed the law forward in amazing ways through large-scale litigation. They can do the same in New Orleans. The current system raises some serious constitutional questions.

Hence the question: they can, but should they? I think yes. They have the resources - financial and personnel - and there is no greater service than assisting the community. The criminal justice system in NOLA is a travesty and someone - anyone - should do all they can to help. Gideon’s promise needs to be fulfilled.

The WSJ blog has more and PD Stuff has lots of coverage of New Orleans.

Technorati Tags: new orleans, public defenders

That is the question. Scott of Simple Justice writes about this LA Times article (via Carolyn Elefant) regarding the impact of body art and expression in today’s workplace.

Once associated with drunken sailors, felons and Hells Angels, tattoos have gone nearly mainstream, putting employers in a bind. How to write rules that won’t alienate un-hip customers on the one hand or eliminate talented workers on the other?

Different standards have emerged. A pink rose discreetly inked on an ankle might pass muster at a hospital but not a day-care center; an eyebrow stud will be viewed as charming at one store and a blemish at another.

Law firms are also taking notice:

Many law firms also prefer conventional looks, as Nicole Wool discovered. Six years ago, on her second day as an associate with an L.A. entertainment firm, one of the older partners took her aside and told her to take out her tongue stud.

“I felt so embarrassed,” recalled Wool, 32, who now works for Dr. Tattoff, a chain of tattoo removal studios. “It made me feel like I’d done something bad.”

Being of the more conservative persuasion, Scott writes:

Sexy or rebellious? Well that’s a message I want to send as a lawyer, and receive as a client. After all, who cares if my lawyer is a dope, as long as he’s sexy. There is a message here, but not the one intended by the nice fellow with a half dozen piercings. It says “I’m self-indulgent and immature.” Put aside the sorry reality that there’s nothing worse than some old tattoo on some saggy old body part that nobody will ever be able to look at without retching at some point in the future. It’s like wearing bell bottom pants in the ’60s, but never being able to take them off. Your judgment will forever be showing. Your poor judgment.

I have to say I agree. While I personally am not against these forms of self-expression, I don’t think they have a place in the courtroom. Whether we like it or not, we are treated differently by people based on how they perceive us. In our line of work, it is imperative that we are seen in the best light possible. Most of the times, we are in Court on behalf of someone else and if we are to be presenting someone else’s case to a judge, a jury or a prosecutor, then it behooves us to put our best foot forward. We engage in a profession - a serious profession, and must treat it as such.

As my generation would say: Cover that sh*t up.

Previous coverage: A while back, I considered whether we have a “look”.

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Added to the sidebar on the right is a public defender blog specific search. Many thanks for Greg of PD Stuff for sharing the code.

Taken from his post announcing the search box:

At the top of the sidebar is a search engine created especially for Public Defender Stuff.

The engine only searches these sites:

* All of the public defender blogs, including a couple of defunct sites

* SCOTUSblog
* Sentencing Law and Policy
* Legal Reader
* How Appealing
* FourthAmendment.com
* Capital Defense Weekly
* CrimProf
* TalkLeft
* Grits for Breakfast
* Trial Ad Notes
* Indefensible
* JuvieJournal
* Sui Generis
* Robert Ambrogi’s Law Sites
* Sex Crimes

I have also added a few more sites to the this list:

• The Confrontation Blog
• Eyewitness ID Blog
• SexCrimeDefender
• Appellate Law & Practice
• Austin Criminal Defense
• Crime and Federalism
• Criminal Appeal
• Defending people…
• AEDPA law and policy

The idea is to separate the wheat from the chaff before the search even starts, focusing on the blogs out there that we already know and trust. Search, for example, “search and seizure” and compare it with a general-web Google search. The general search returns as its top links an overview of the concept, while the PD Stuff search brings you recent developments, thoughts and nuances from some of the best legal minds in the business.

Try it out and see what you think, then let me know if you think the search could benefit by adding a specific site or blog.

The search is powered by Google Co-op and if you’d like to add it to your blog I can send you the code to put on your sidebar. Just send me an email.

Excellent news from Washington today. The House of Representatives passed a bill that would provide for loan repayment for public defenders and prosecutors.

The bill, estimated to cost some $25 million a year, passed 341-73. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate. House sponsor David Scott, D-Ga., said the bill would help counter high turnover in public defender and prosecutor offices across the country.

The bill would provide loan repayments of up to $10,000 per year – up to a cap of $60,000 – for law school graduates who work as criminal prosecutors or public defenders instead of taking what are often more lucrative jobs at private firms. The measure, which would expire in 2013 unless reauthorized, has backing from the American Bar Association and other legal groups.

Absolutely fantastic. C’mon Senate. Pass this bill!

Technorati Tags: loan repayment, house of representatives

Audacity reports that Sherri Johnson (the pd sentenced to 30 days for contempt) has resigned. Apparently she wrote a 17 page resignation letter (as Audacity laments, if only someone could get their hands on it. Smoking Gun, are you listening?)

That’s not all of it, however. It seems that the public defender appointed to represent her on her appeal has withdrawn from representing her and has even asked that his name be stricken from the record!!!!!

Un-frickin’-believable.

Technorati Tags: sherri johnson

CT’s public defender and prosecutor loan repayment bill has been voted out of the Judiciary Committee and referred to the Appropriations Committee. Keep those fingers crossed!

It’s been drilled in us since the day we started working as trial attorneys: “Make a record, make a record, make a record”. Yeah, kinda like a broken record. So when Georgia public defender Sherri Johnson attempted to do what can only be considered very smart lawyering, she got hit with a 30 day sentence for contempt of court. CDW points to the opinion and some facts:

Jefferson was found in contempt for stating, “[T]hat’s a gross interference with the way that I can represent my client, your Honor” in response to the juvenile court’s ruling that she could not question the investigating officer about the shooter’s statement before first calling the shooter himself to the stand. In making the statement, Jefferson was articulating the basis for her objection to the trial court’s ruling, albeit in a strenuous manner.

Jefferson also was found in contempt for stating “I just want the record to reflect with much respect, Your Honor, . . . I just find the Court is biased in its view. You say that you’re not prejudging the case but it seems to me like you’ve made up your mind and any and everything I do to effectively defend my client I’m being rebutted.” While the transcript of the delinquency hearing does not support a finding of bias, the fact that Jefferson was substantively wrong on this issue does not in itself render her allegation of bias contemptuous.

CDW is absolutely correct in pointing out that this is very low on the scale of contemptuous acts in court by an attorney. Heck, if I think back to some of the things I said on Monday, I’d be facing a loooong vacation in lockup. If anyone wants to read the appellate decision, the cite is: In re Sherri Jefferson, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 391 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007)

It’s always heartening to read stories of clients that we help turning things around. The latest one comes from another MA pd blogger (no, I didn’t stumble upon this blog today, I’ve had my eye on it for a bit, but never got around to mentioning it), MissTyrios.

But today, I saw a client in court who was there to set up her system for random drug screens with probation. She was there on schedule, doing everything she was supposed to do. And she looked amazing. It took me a few seconds to register who she was when she called out my name and waved in the hallway. Since I last saw her - when she plead her case out, facing two more months in jail and a long period of probation - she has put on some much-needed weight and lost a huge amount of that horrible premature aging that so ravages women addicted to heroin. Her hair was dyed, her makeup was done, her clothes were neat and clean. And she was just…healthy. I had grown really fond of her over the course of my representation.

Now that makes it worthwhile. The blog has been added to the list on the left, so if you want to find it again, you know where to look.

You can spot a cop or a prosecutor from a mile away, goes the myth. Polished shoes with pointy toes, short cropped hair and always looking officious are certain indicators of an individual’s service in public safety and criminal justice, it is believed. But what of us? The public defenders? Do we have a “look”? Is there anything about our appearance that alerts another person that we are public defenders? I know Blondie wears pink, but what about the rest? Anything you have observed? Do all public defenders wear tweed jackets and have ponytails? Are we more likely to have longer hair or beards?

The Connecticut legislature’s proposed bill to provide for student loan repayment for state’s attorneys and public defenders made it out of the Committee on Higher Education and Employment Advancement. It has now been referred to the Judiciary Committee for further hearings and consideration.

I know some of you readers work in states other than Connecticut, so I want to conduct an informal poll. What are your average caseloads? How many cases do you carry at a time (on average) and how many cases a year (on average)? This is an exercise purely for me, not for any publication. I just want to get an idea of what PDs in other states are carrying (actually if I have any CT readers, you can leave a comment too!).

Leave a comment and convince your friends to, too!

Edit: Bumped to the top. Thanks to SL & P, PD Stuff, CDW.

This week’s edition of Monday Musings is up. The featured PD is 123txpublicdefender123 (never let her live that down!), also known as the blogger of Injustice Anywhere. Check it out.

PD Stuff’s brand new feature called “Monday Musings” has its inaugural edition today. The featured PD is David Feige, author of Indefensible. He also authors a blog by the same name. Check it out; it’s a fun and interesting read.

I"m a little late with this story, but via Pdstuff comes the link to some good news.

Since 2003, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has been pushing legislation that would grant student loan relief to public sector lawyers in the criminal justice system. With the Democrats in control of Congress, Durbin plans to reintroduce his bill early next year. Some hope it finally has a chance of passing.

To remedy the problem, Durbin is pushing the Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act. If passed into law, the Justice Department would pay up to $10,000 a year of the law school loans of any prosecutor or public defender. To qualify, a lawyer would have to commit to three years of service. Loan assistance would be capped at $60,000 per lawyer and would apply only to loans made through federal programs.

This certainly is heartening for us and I sincerely hope that it passes. The NACDL has been advocating it for a while now.