HOW TO WORK WITH COURT APPOINTED ATTORNEY

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Dazeemay
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HOW TO WORK WITH COURT APPOINTED ATTORNEY

Postby Dazeemay » Sat Nov 13, 2010 12:29 pm

This is excellent advice....
http://www.justicewomen.com/tips_beware ... s_2.html#c

Tips for getting the best possible representation from your court appointed attorney.

If you've been appointed an attorney by the juvenile court, don't trust that your attorney will properly prepare and present your case.

Many, many, many mothers wrongly lose their children to CPS, and the children wrongly lose their mothers, simply because the attorneys assigned to represent the non-offending parents often do little or nothing on behalf of their clients.

No one in any situation can sit back and trust that their attorney will effectively fight for their case. You have to partner with your attorney. You need to understand your case, participate in preparing your case, and most important of all, you have to watchdog your attorney.

But when you are the non-offending parent who has been assigned an attorney by the juvenile court in the CPS case, you need to multiply this advice by a factor of a thousand. As a rule, attorneys assigned to represent you in a CPS case are attorneys at their worst. They frequently fail to prepare, fail to fight back, fail to return phone calls, fail to meet with their clients, and often fail to know even the basic facts of the case. As a result, these attorneys frequently end up abandoning their clients to the most blatant abuses of CPS/juvenile court system.

Don't let this happen to you. In order to effectively deal with an attorney assigned to represent you in a CPS/juvenile court case, it's helpful to first understand why the CPS/juvenile court system brings out the worst in so many attorneys.

These attorneys usually have a very high volume caseload of clients who are in intense emotional pain and stress. Any discussion the attorney attempts to have with the clients is usually laced with the mother's agony and desperation. With scores of these desperation cases to handle every day, many attorneys unfortunately take the easy route and shut the clients out. Many don't return phone calls, don't meet with you to prepare the case, and often don't even meet with their clients before critical court hearings. This naturally increases the clients' desperation, which increases the attorney's effort to barricade against communicating with the clients, which leads to very bad lawyering for the mothers who need it most.


The attorneys assigned to these cases know that their clients are among the most powerless and voiceless in society; poor women who are caught in the most dire circumstances. Right from the start, most of these attorneys can't even begin to imagine the kinds of circumstances their clients are going through. Nor are they likely to dig into the situation sufficiently (if at all) to unravel the complexities in search of the truth. Furthermore, these attorneys know their clients do not have the resources, (neither the time, money, nor standing) to mount a case of lawyer misconduct, no matter how bad a job the lawyers do.


Family and juvenile law have very low status in the legal profession. Many attorneys assigned to cases like yours are not really there as a first choice. They're being rotated through the job. Or they took the job as a holding station while they look for better positions elsewhere. Or they simply need the easy money of a court assignment. Furthermore, they know that given the vague and flimsy legal standards of family and juvenile law, it's difficult to construct an effective defense against whatever claims or accusations CPS puts forth. So, they figure, why put up a fight?


The whole CPS/juvenile court system operates in secret. No one is watching. Nothing is on the public record. Add to this the absence of rigorous standards and the attorneys know that no one in the system, including themselves, is likely to be held accountable for legal malpractice.


Most of these attorneys are given their assignments at the pleasure of the court. The attorneys know that if they smoothly go along with CPS and court rulings without raising a fuss, the court will continue to assign them cases. On the other hand, if they regularly battle with CPS and take up court time fighting and objecting on behalf of their clients' rights, they know the chances are slim that the court will keep them around.
When you look at all these factors in sum, you can easily see why the attorney you're assigned in the juvenile court system is so prone to doing a lousy job representing your interests. Fortunately, there are some things you can do that may perk up your attorney to a better level of performance on your behalf.

* Tips to increase the chances your attorney will fight your case effectively:

* Know what attorneys like. Most attorneys like to go into court armed with solid evidence. They like to look good in court, to win smartly, and to do all of the foregoing with the minimal of effort. Even better, they like to do so with no effort at all. What this means for you is that if you can arm your attorney with solid evidence that smartly answers the CPS case against you, and if you can do so by making the most minimal demand on the attorney's time, you stand a good chance of getting your attorney to bat hard for you in court.

So....

* Be informed and be prepared. Know the written accusations against you. Know the exact purpose of the upcoming court hearing (i.e. what question is the upcoming hearing meant to resolve.) Then prepare yourself before you meet or communicate with your attorney, including before any phone conversations with your attorney. Make a brief set of notes to yourself on the main questions you want to ask, and the main points you want to communicate. Try to put these points in as condensed a form as possible so you can refer to them and read them at a glance.

* In all your communications with your attorney, stick to the legal issue(s) at hand. This can be very difficult given the heart wrenching emotions of your situation. And it can be near unbearable to realize that your attorney isn't out there trying to move heaven and earth to make sure you don't lose your child to CPS. But it's very unlikely your attorney is going to be moved by your pain. If you vent your pain onto your attorney, it's much more likely you'll drive the attorney away rather than serving to draw the attorney into your cause.

Keep reminding yourself that the best way to keep CPS from taking your child is to get your attorney to fight effectively for you in court, and the best way to get your attorney to fight effectively for you is to stick to the legal issue at hand.

One way to help yourself do this is to imagine that you'll only have five minutes with your attorney. Then in the days leading up to your appointment with your attorney, ask yourself, what are the most important questions and points I need to communicate in those five minutes. This should help you get very focused and clear about what you want to say and ask. As mentioned above, write these points down in a brief set of notes to yourself. Have these notes in your hand for easy reference at a glance when you meet or talk with your attorney.

* Prepare a one page written brief for your attorney. This one page brief should be a tight summary, ~ a point by point list ~, of the main points of information, evidence, and witnesses your attorney needs in order to successfully fight the upcoming legal issue at hand. In other words, in your thinking and preparation, you be the lawyer arguing your case.

The end product you give your attorney should all fit on one, or maximum two, page(s) . Remember, these attorneys are buried in these cases. They will read one sheet of paper. They will appreciate one sheet of paper. But if you hand your attorney a fist full of papers, it's likely the attorney won't even read the first page. If there are supporting documents you think your attorney should have, briefly describe the documents you have on your one page brief. Indicate that you've attached a copy, or that you'll produce the documents when needed.

If you have additional information you could not fit on the one page, say exactly that as your last point on the page. For example, write something like, "In addition to the above, I have two additional witnesses who can attest to the bruises on my child from a year ago. I have a copy of my temporary restraining order petition from that time (in which I noted the threats of violence against me). Also, I can obtain a letter from the counselor I was seeing at that time who can attest to my fears for myself and my child."

Write your information out in points (the same as this text), with the most important points at the top. Don't forget to put your name, your phone number(s), the case number, and the date - and your attorney's name - all clearly at the top of the page.

* Ask your attorney directly what he or she is going to argue and ask for in court. Don't be shy about this. It is completely appropriate to the attorney/client relationship for you to be very specific in asking your attorney how and what they are going to argue on your behalf in court. It is also completely appropriate, in fact it is the core of the attorney/client relationship, that you tell your attorney in detail, how you want your attorney to represent you.

So speak up. Ask: "What evidence are you going to present in defense of the CPS accusation that I should have known my husband was abusing his stepdaughter?" "Are you going to present the letter from the counselor?" "Are you going to present the police reports of domestic violence from a year ago?" "Are you going to present the statement from my daughter's friend?"

"What are you going to do if the judge will not return custody to me?" "I want you to ask for increased visitation." "I want you to argue forcefully against CPS telling me to CO-counsel with my husband." "I want you to argue against this based on the history of domestic violence." etc.

Take notes on your attorney's answers and responses to these questions. It may be that some of your requests are not legally viable for a particular hearing. But your attorney should give you full, accurate, and reasonable explanations if that's the case. But bottom line, your attorney's job is to represent your interests court.

* Always have extra copies of the brief for your attorney, and a set of notes for yourself, when you go to court. The sad fact is that even if you've given a copy of this one sheet briefing to your attorney a week before the hearing, there's still a real chance the attorney will not have read it. So bring copies to court. Once at the courthouse, you can be pretty certain that your attorney will read it, or reread it, as he or she sits there in the courtroom or out in the hallway as they wait for the case to be called.

Waiting for a case to be called at court is often a very good time to catch your attorney's attention to exchange last minute thoughts anyway because they're pinned in place with nothing particular to do. But before you tap your attorney on the shoulder, as always, take a minute to jot down your points and questions.

The reason it's so important that you have a set of notes for yourself when you go to court is because it's so easy to forget even the most important points when you're nervous and upset. The courtroom atmosphere can be very intimidating, chaotic, and confusing. So bring your written notes to yourself. Bring a copy of your notes to your attorney.

* Remember: Bring a smart, supportive friend with you to meetings with the attorney and to court hearings. And bring your notebook, too, so you can write down new points and questions that occur to you during the court proceeding.

* If, despite all of the above, your attorney fails you in court, does not present the evidence on your side, misrepresents your side, doesn't object to lies and false accusations against you, etc., you have every right to speak up for yourself, either immediately or later. But it's best to speak up immediately!

In court, once your case is called, you will be seated right next to your attorney. The reason you're seated next to your attorney is because in order for you to have proper representation in court you must be able to communicate with your attorney as events unfold in court.

Do not hesitate to talk to your attorney during your court hearing! Do not hesitate to talk to your attorney even if it means the whole court has to stop and wait while you confer with your attorney. Do not feel pressured out of exercising this critical right to stop everything while you talk with your attorney, even if all you need to do is to ask your attorney the meaning of one action or another.

But if you see that your attorney is failing to present evidence he or she said they would present, or failing to accurately represent your position, it is absolutely essential that you turn to your attorney and say, "I need to confer with you for a minute." When you do that, your attorney should then turn to the judge and say, "Your Honor, I would like to take a moment to confer with my client." This is nothing unusual. It happens all the time in court that proceedings are stopped so attorneys and clients can take a minute or two to confer. So don't be shy or embarrassed at all about turning to communicate with your attorney as many times as you feel you need to throughout the court hearing on your case. Remember, you are fighting to save your relationship with your child. And you have a right to proper, accurate, and complete legal representation.

If your attorney does not respond to you, if your attorney just rolls over your request and acts like he or she doesn't hear you, you, yourself, have a right to speak up directly to the judge. It can be very hard to do this in open court, but do it. "Your honor, I need a minute to confer with my attorney." This will work. The judge will stop everything and give you time to talk with your attorney, and more than likely, the judge will also give your attorney a dirty look. A look like, 'why on earth did your client have to go through me to get to you?'

* Yes, you have the right to fire your attorney, even if your attorney is court appointed. If it is clear to you that your attorney is not prepared or not willing to properly represent your side of the case, you have a right to fire your attorney. Naturally, you should be sure this is what you need to do before you do it, since it will postpone court hearings and require that you be assigned a new attorney.

However, if your attorney has refused to meet with you, or if your attorney has not prepared, or is hostile to your case, or for any other reason, you feel your attorney is going to fail you in court, firing your attorney may be the best thing you can do to protect your rights.

If you're going to fire your attorney, it's a good idea to write a brief one paragraph statement to your attorney telling the attorney that he or she is fired. Fax this to your attorney, and bring a copy of the letter with you to court. When you go into court, be prepared to speak up to the judge when your case is called, and to give a copy of the letter to the judge. Don't feel embarrassed or shy about doing this either. This is not unusual. Many clients fire their attorneys. Many court hearings of all kinds are put over to another date so that clients have time to find a new attorney or to be assigned a new attorney. Many attorneys have lived through the experience of being fired. They know how to save face in these situations. Your attorney will not have a heart attack when you announce it in open court. And the judge won't be shocked either. They've all been through it before.

So speak up and exercise your rights. You deserve proper legal representation, especially when it comes to saving your relationship with your child.




Feel free to photocopy and distribute this information as long as you keep the credit and text intact.
Copyright © Marie De Santis,
Women's Justice Center,
http://www.justicewomen.com
[email protected]




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This is not legal advice;hopefully wisdom

To put it in simple terms…when the authorities ARE the perpetrators and the perpetrators ARE the authorities, there is no earthly justice or recourse, at the end of the day (unless the American people wake up).

Therefore, those who have achieved the highest levels of power seek to ‘enjoy’ the most grievous and extreme injustices. For many of those in the highest circles of power, the greatest statement of power is to perpetrate the greatest possible injustice…the savage, brutal traumatization and abuse of an innocent child.
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"Ultimately, the law is only as good as the judge" --- D.X. Yue, 2005, in "law, reason and judicial fraud"
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LindaJM
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Re: HOW TO WORK WITH COURT APPOINTED ATTORNEY

Postby LindaJM » Mon Nov 15, 2010 2:19 pm


Great article! So glad you found it Dazeemay! I've added this link to my page: How to make your court appointed attorney work for you.
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Please keep in mind that none of us are lawyers and we can't give legal advice. We are simply telling you what we would do in a similar situation. It is to your advantage to get a lawyer.

"Evil flourishes when good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke ... so try to do something to change the system ...


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