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Standard Twelve: Substitution of Attorneys or Assignment of Contracts
- American Bar Association, Standards for Criminal Justice, Standard 5-5.2, Duration of Representation:
- Counsel should be provided at every stage of the proceedings, including sentencing, appeal, and post-conviction review. Counsel initially provided should continue to represent the defendant throughout the trial court proceedings.
National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Task Force on Courts, 1973, Standard 13.1, Availability of Publicly Financed Representation in Criminal Cases:
- Public representation should be made available to eligible defendants (as defined in Standard 13.2) in all criminal cases at their request, or the request of someone acting for them, beginning at the time the individual either is arrested or is requested to participate in an investigation that has focused upon him as a likely suspect. The representation should continue during trial court proceedings and through the exhaustion of all avenues of relief from conviction.
National Legal aid and Defender Association, Standards for Defender Services, Standard II-2f:
- In cases where the defense service began representation for an accused person who is subsequently found to be ineligible for the defense service, the defense service should immediately be relieved from the case, except to the extent that the service delivers information about the case to the new defense lawyer and familiarizes the new defense lawyer with the matter.
National Legal Aid and Defender Association Guidelines for Negotiating and Awarding Indigent Defense Contracts, 1984, Guideline III-23, Duration of Representation:
- The contract shall specify that the Contractor has the responsibility to complete any and all cases once representation is commenced under the terms of the contract. Representation commenced by the Contractor in trial court shall be continued through all trial court proceedings if provided by the contract; representation commenced by or taken to an appeals court by the Contractor shall be continued until the appeals process is terminated by an action of the appeals court which is accepted as final on the merits by defense counsel and his or her client.
Nothing in this Guideline shall prohibit a Contractor or attorney from withdrawing from a case in which a court has recognized a conflict of interest for the attorney or in which the defendant is found to be ineligible for services as defined in Guideline III-3.
P/T Paralegal - TDA
