Over at the ACS blog, Nicole Flatow interviewed attorney and State Appellate Defender Valerie Newman about her experience arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of the respondent in Lafler v. Cooper. Rarely, do we hear an unvarnished take on what it is like for attorneys to argue before the high court. Speaking of the [...]
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear argument in two of the most important criminal cases this Term: Missouri v. Frye, No. 10-444 and Lafler v. Cooper, No. 10-209. And both cases involve ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Both cases involve instances where defense attorneys must have been huffing glue. In Frye, the attorney failed to [...]
Just how important are ineffective assistance of counsel claims to the administration of real justice in this country? And if we conclude IAC claims are vital to rectifying injustices committed on criminal defendants by incompetent attorneys, how far is society prepared to go to correct the errors of incompetent counsel? The Supreme [...]
The 2011 Supreme Court Term is about to ramp up and there are several intriguing criminal cases set for argument. The cases I’m most curious to see the Court confront are the ones that have so far flown under-the-radar. Let’s start with the ineffective assistance of counsel cases. IAC claims are the [...]
I have been away from blogging for a week, but wanted to highlight a few noteworthy pieces from the legal blogosphere. I ran across this ATL article about a D.C. Superior Court judge that declared a mistrial in a murder case because the defense lawyer was horribly incompetent. The attorney was a recent [...]