Ineffective assistance of counsel

Professional responsibility

Duties to the client

Confidentiality Avoiding conflict of interest Zealous representation Avoid commingling Avoid self-dealing Effective assistance Avoid fee-splitting Withdrawal from representation

Duties to the court

Disclosure of perjury Disclosure of adverse authority

Duties to the profession

Limitations on legal advertising Report misconduct

Sources of law

ABA Model Rules

Penalties for misconduct

Disbarment  · Judicial misconduct

v • d • e

Ineffective assistance of counsel is an issue raised in legal malpractice suits and in appeals in criminal cases where a criminal defendant asserts that their criminal conviction occurred because their attorney failed to properly defend the case. In order to prevail on such a claim, the plaintiff or appellant must show two things:

1. Deficient performance by counsel.
2. But for such deficiency, the result of the proceeding would have differed.

Some states limit the use of this appeal to mistakes the counsel made at trial.^{[citation needed]}

In Strickland v. Washington (1984), the Supreme Court of the United States established that failure to inform a defendant of the direct consequences of a sentence qualifies as ineffective assistance of counsel, but failure to inform of collateral consequences of criminal charges does not. All immigration related consequences are considered collateral.^[1]

Having the benefit of counsel or assistance of counsel means that the party (defendant) has had a competent attorney representing him or her.

Ineffective assistance of counsel may also be a ground for voiding a waiver of the right to appeal that a defendant may have signed as part of her agreement to plead guilty.^[2]

In Padilla v. Kentucky, a case currently before the United States Supreme Court, the questions at issue are whether non-citizens such as Padilla have a Sixth Amendment right to a claim for ineffective counsel.

See also

• Contract attorney
• Public defender

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

External links

• Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Through The Years

This article relating to law in the United States, or its constituent jurisdictions is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about a criminal law topic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e