I stumbled upon an article in the ABA's GP/Solo LawTrends & News Newsletter that I find really troublesome. It begins with this: "You have taken the quantum leap and decided to represent an individual charged with a felony offense." The implication is that "you" haven't done this before, and you have decided, "what the hell, how hard can it be?", or something similar. Bad enough that it encourages the inexperienced to represent a criminal defendant with little more than this article under his/her hat, but a felony? I'm all for new lawyers entering criminal practice, but it is articles like this that encourage the inexperienced to represent a client in a criminal case without any idea of the collateral consequences, recent case law (like Crawford) or criinal procedure.
The article reminds me of my meeting with a Massachusetts civil litigator and his friend the other day. The friend was arrested for OUI in New Hampshire, and the Mass. attorney drove up to the New hampshire court with him to the arraignment. They were offered what appeared to be a pretty good deal, with a minimal first offender disposition, and plead the case out. The Mass. lawyer did not represent his friend, but was there to advise him, at least. Fast forward to my office several weeks later, and I am explaining why the prior offense in 1982 in Massachusetts means that the Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles doesn't care that the NH case was resolved as a first offense, gave the friend a two year license suspension and will require an ignition interlock device after the guy finally gets the license back.
The lawyer who went up to New Hampshire with his friend is an excellent civil litigator. I respect him, and have and will refer civil cases to him. I think the ABA article is a good example of a dangerous attitude toward criminal practice that too often good civil lawyers adopt. I know some clients will go to their real estate or business lawyer with a "minor" criminal case, and ask him or her to represent them, hoping to avoid a "big" fee. Unfortunately, I'm sure I'm far from the only criminal defense lawyer who has been asked to fix the damage done by someone "taking the quantum leap" and representing a defendant in a criminal case, whether misdemeanor or felony. Its frustrating.
