Martin Magnusson said on May 09, 2006  

It's amazing how adding some figures to the argument really drives the point home! Spending six hours defending a client who is looking at five years of imprisonment seems far below what the "bare minimum" should be...

 ACS said on May 10, 2006  

That is horrendous. Thank goodness public defender offices are growing in VA, but even that is no panacea. It is not even close to effective when clients have to be triaged to such an extent that no work is done on many so that one can be effective on a few.

Any judges who turn a blind eye to this should be ashamed of themselves, the lives of the innocent convicted are on their hands, not ours. All indigent defense attorneys can do is try our best, don't work too hard and burn out, and speak truth to power about the inequalities whenever we can. I often feel bad about overseeing railroad pleas and my own ineffectiveness, but then I think that if we weren't there trying, who would be there to stand with my clients? Nobody. I get plenty of thanks, that and a trial victory now and then (or a reasonable prosecutor dropping a case that never should have been brought) is what sustains me.

 Anonymous said on May 14, 2006  

The unfortunate thing is that the more experienced attorney can best handle 4.7 hours on a felony charge. The new guy will naturally spend the most time. The resulting hourly wage will discourage talented folks from staying to learn. The experienced folks can earn more as retained counsel or move on to domestic relations!

It is a travesty. I question why I continue to work some days. I do try to explain to clients up front that I will NOT be at the jail often, I can do more from my office than sitting holding hands. If they know that up front I think it helps them from feeling ignored.

I used to take collect calls to save the time and gas money. It was helpful. Unfortunately, a few frequent callers ran the bill up to $300 a month and took up most of my assistant's time being nice chatting about their miserable situations. If I could find a way for low cost, limited calls I'd do it. Like an 800 # with clients passcodes so you could take the calls you need, or a three minute limit on each call preset would be great!

 Anonymous said on January 07, 2009  

I think you`ve become jaded and perhaps it`s time you should find another line of work. Remember that there are some people who are being tried for crimes that they are not guilty of but need representation. That`s where you come in. It`s your duty as a lawyer to step up and help those people out without prejudice.

 Ken Lammers said on January 07, 2009  

What prejudice? If anything, this was a plea to allow me to have enough money to avoid any unintentional prejudice to any case.