Barbara Ann Radnofsky said yesterday in the Houston Chronicle that the lawyers the public should truly fear work for the executive branch.
While I agree in part, I'd add that if I were indigent and accused of a crime I didn't commit, I'd be at least as concerned about the possibility of sub-par lawyering by a criminal defense attorney as misconduct by the state. You can get quality representation if you can pay, but if you can't afford your own lawyer, the indigent defense system in Texas can be a real crapshoot - even in death penalty cases.
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11 comments:
I think you're in an apples to oranges comparison. I'm glad that Bush will be gone in a few months.
His idea of executive power is scary.
Q: Which lawyers should you fear?
A: That depends on your net worth.
None of the attorneys mentioned is what creates the "fear" in me, it's ALL the others that sit silently.
Meanwhile, any help pushing a PETITION just a little bit (!) would be greatly appreciated.
I do not know completely about all of this big subject of lawyers and such, but I always thought lawyers should stick to judicial branch of government activities, not the legislative, not the executive.
It always has bothered me that lawyers whose firms contribute big bucks to legislator's campaigns (fed and state) buddy up with the legislator and actually write bills for the legislator. Those bills if passed are ones that lawyer uses in his practice to defend or prosecute. Seems way way wrong to me.
The GWB adminsitration and its neocon ideas of "the unitary executive" simply trash all Constitutional priciples. I read FindLaw.
I believe it to be the one's that represent or work in state agencies. I.E. District Attorneys - Prosecutors, the executive branch...TYC General counsel and even those lawyers now converted into the Legislature, politicians and house and senate memebers. They are crooked and money and fame hungry and that brews a very ugly drink for the middle to lower socioeconomical people. And don't get me wrong...its not a fear fear...its a disgusted you have to fight the obvious crooked fear. The public defenders that do negotiate on the lives and freedom of the less forunate. Its not apples to oranges....its a gala apple to a granny smith...its a taste preference. And I agree, it depends on your net worth. And unfortunately, we have none according to the corrupt.
In our case we paid high dollar for our lawyer and it did not pay off. I never felt right with him - I don't know if it was my insticts but something was wrong with the whole process.
Lots of people hire bad criminal defense lawyers too, often the same lawyers who take court appointments in volume. If a defendant doesn't have access to information that would enable them to effectively evaluate the relative quality of different lawyers when they're hiring a lawyer then it's still a crap shoot. I think the solution has to involve raising the standard of practice in the criminal defense bar as a whole -- not that there aren't a lot of great lawyers practicing now, but there's lots of inconsistency. AM
I agree. You can pay alot of money for a defense attorney and they are still a bad apple. But they have to EARN their paycheck, DA's that offer misconduct and faulty records...and yes, there are some equally horrible defense attorneys....but all of it just really boils down to the moral value of the attorney...on either side. I believe it to be more of a thorn when you pay alot of money and nothing....absolutely nothing was done. I would file to the bar...blog on that attorney...do something...sue civillay for failure to do the work.....get some notice out there that the attorney wasn't worth a hill....picket in front of his office....but get the word out there.....and noone will use them.
The trouble with getting the word out there is that the lawyer will sue you for liable.
He'll probably win because of his connections with the court.
If you sue the lawyer for failure to uphold his contract, you'll probably loose because the law protects criminal attorney's from liability in the loss of a criminal case.
If you win, by good lawyering or just good luck, you'll never bring a suit and consequently the criminal lawyer has nothing to worry about but his ability to sleep at night.
I feel confident most sleep very well in an expensive bed.
Whew!
I'm just glad that 'sub-par lawyering' didn't link to me...
:)
Grits,
Since this is a blog about lawyers..can you tell me how safe our anonymous postings are on here with you? I wrote you a personal email that went into greater detail...
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