Ethics

?Justice Denied: America?s Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel? has just been released by The Constitution Project.  It is a report and recommendations of the National Right to Counsel Committee, which has been working on the project for five years.  The Honorary Co-Chairs are Walter Mondale and William Sessions.  The Committee includes judges, prosecutors, academics and defense lawyers.  The Reporters are Dean Norman Lefstein and Robert Spangenberg.  (Disclosure: I am one of fifteen members of the Committee.)

If anyone is interested in receiving one or more copies of the Report, please let me know at lawmhf@hofstra.edu.

Of particular importance are Recommendations 14 and 15.

Recommendation 14 ? Defense attorneys and defender programs should refuse to compromise their ethical duties in the face of political and systemic pressures that undermine the competence of their representation provided to defendants and juveniles unable to afford counsel.  Defense attorneys and defender programs should, therefore, refuse to continue representation or accept new cases for representation when faced with excessive workloads that will lead to a breach of their professional obligations.

Recommendation 15 ? Judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers should abide by their professional obligation to report to disciplinary agencies knowledge of serious ethical violations that impact indigent defense representation when the information they possess is not confidential.  Appropriate remedial action should be taken by persons with responsibility over those who commit such ethical violations.