09 July 2005

Most of my work is indigent defense. I sit in my office every Friday from 2-5 p.m. for open office hours so that all my clients can come to see me.1 My cards, which are handed out to my clients when I am appointed, state very clearly that my clients need to come see me at least two weeks before trial on a Friday afternoon. My answering service is instructed to inform people to come see me on Friday afternoon. About every third week or so a client actually comes to the office. I would bet that well over 80% of my clients don't come to meet with me prior to the first court date.

90% doesn't really surprise me all that much. At least not for clients who are on the street. I think that 99% of the time I get to the jail and visit my client before each of his court dates. However, I must admit that this has gotten much harder over time as clients are stored at regional jails which makes visiting so very time consuming because of the long drives.



1 This is the only day of the week when I am certain that the courts wherein I usually practice do not have afternoon court (although one court has lately shown a disturbing tendency to have morning court go to 2 p.m. or later). I would rather take that time for myself or to go to visit clients at jail (with more and more of my clients being scattered around the Commonwealth in different regional jails I could really use Fridays for visits). However, I am trying to make sure that all clients have an opportunity to meet with me prior to trial.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How do you get paid exactly,and how do you get the clients? Are they referred to you by the state?

And how can you put together a decent trial strategy if they don't meet with you?

Just curious.