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CriminalDefense 9 - 22 Apr 2010 - Main.DavidGoldin
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| | Eben has spoken very highly of criminal defense several times in class. I am one of those people who still doesn’t know what kind of law he wants to practice, but criminal law is definitely one of the possibilities. I find it interesting, at least academically/abstractly, and I think I would enjoy being the guy in someone’s corner.
The problem is, as much as I would love to be the person defending the wrongfully accused, I think I would be uncomfortable defending someone I believed had committed the crime. This would be more or less true depending on the circumstances, but for some crimes in particular (gratuitously violent crimes, sexual crimes against women and children, white collar crime/public integrity/fraud), I think I would have a real problem. | | | I think there is an important point being missed here. Unless you are a public defender or work for somebody else, you can choose to take a case or not. In my mind if a possible client came to me and told me the facts of his case, I would know whether or not I was able to give him the type of defense he deserves. If I felt I couldn't, I would tell him any information he needed to know and refer him to someone who I believed would provide him with competent counsel. Additionally, in a system of plea deals and graded sentencing I think it is inappropriate to think of a client's case as one would a sporting event. The goal is not to win. The goal is to make all ethical efforts to advocate effectively for your client. If your client tells you he is guilty you should be prepared to tell him what that means in regards to your defense strategy. For example, you will tell him that you won't put him on the stand to deny guilt. Based on the evidence, whether he is guilty or not, it is your job to inform him of your assessment of the most likely outcome of his case at trial in regards to both guilt and sentencing. You should then inform him of what you expect he is looking at in terms of a plea agreement. Counsel him on what you think is more prudent and let him make the decision of whether he wishes to obtain different counsel based on all this.
-- RobLaser - 21 Apr 2010 | |
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> | @Rob - you raise a good point, but I don't agree 100% with you. If you practice solo or are a partner at a criminal defense practice, technically you can choose your own cases. That said, as Eben pointed out in class on Thursday, to maintain solvency, you need to bring in a certain amount of money each month. Even if you have a small practice with minimal overhead, there are still quite a few costs. You will also want to bring home a salary for yourself. To cover these costs, you need to take on cases.
A large chunk of the defendants in criminal cases don't have enough money to pay private lawyers, so they rely on public defenders. Of the remaining defendants who can afford lawyers, many have relatively limited funds and thus can only pay a certain fixed amount. So if you charge these defendants over X, they won't be able to pay. It is relatively rare (statistically speaking) that you will get criminal defendants who can afford to spend large amounts of money.
Basically, unless you are a top criminal lawyer, you need to run your practice on volume. There are very few cases which alone will be able to cover all your costs. This limits your ability to pick and choose. Your choice is more constrained when you start out, since you will likely be less well known and will not have as much of a name for yourself. If you are very successful, your ability to pick and choose cases increases, but you will still likely be limited by financial concerns.
That said, the criminal defense lawyer in his own practice can always say no to specific cases that he does not want to handle, for whatever reason. But if he refuses too many cases, he will be unable to pay the bills.
(This is a very simplified analysis based on my experiences, but I hope that you can understand the general point)
-- DavidGoldin 21 Apr 2010 | | | |
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