CrimLaw

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God Bless our Troops.
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"The coalition, which is working with the state Crime Commission on proposals to reform the system, suggested that Virginia should develop Standards of Justice, along the lines of its educational Standards of Quality and Standards of Learning.

SOJs could introduce statewide oversight and accountability where there is neither, and set qualification and performance standards for court-appointed defense lawyers. And the state could, and should, increase their compensation, along with the pay of salaried public defenders where they exist.

Virginia needs to set standards. Being Virginia, it will not want to pay to actually meet them. But, being Virginia, it might be shamed into making an effort to fall not too far below fair."

SOJ is a silly idea. What are they going to do test my knowledge of all the possible means by which a person can be convicted of grand larceny? True/False - stealing a mixed breed dog from its abusive owner is a felony in Virginia? The abilities which matter most are research and oral argument. Damn near impossible to test research abilities: computers, books, service subscriptions - what quailifies? What do you test? And if you start grading in-court performance you will run into politics so fast it will be amazing. Let me be as vague as I can be here - my experience is that in some jurisdictions you are a good lawyer if you belong to certain firms - no matter how well you actually perform in court. Competency has nothing to do with being a "good lawyer," favored by the court and bar**. Anyone who practices in these jurisdictions for a period of time sees this.

I do like the increased compensation idea (and this article is correct in the payments allowed). Virginia is just pitiful in this. At a CLE I attended the Chief Justice of Virginia's Supreme Court justified the rates because, even though we complain, he has never seen a court-appointed lawyer in front of his court not strive to do his best. Which, of course, misses the point because the place where the harm is done is when the lawyer in General District Court or Circuit Court has to balance 60 ongoing cases and cannot do adequate, individualized discovery or argue matters in courtroom motions or do sufficient pre-trial investigation or . . . or . . . or . . .


** To be fair these places usually also have a few "very good lawyers" who are both politically well connected and good at their profession.

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