I received a call the other day from a potential new client, who I spoke with for about ten minutes. Believe it or not, this is on the long side for that initial contact. Usually, during the first phone call, my main goal is to get them into my office where I can answer their questions and explain to them what I can do to help. I also “congratulate” the potential new client for contacting me because navigating the legal system without the help of an experienced attorney is not only stressful, but unwise.
In other words, I make the initial telephone conversation about the value and service I can provide to them. I gather only enough information to prepare for a productive first meeting. I then allow the in person meeting to go as long as needed to answer all the potential new client’s questions and fully explain the law and procedure involved in their case.
Back to the phone call. The reason it was a relatively long phone call was because the potential new client also contacted the public defender and wanted to know what I could provide that the public defender could not. This is a question that those of us practicing law in a private setting receive every once in a while, so I provided my usual but accurate response. After praising the public defender’s office for doing a fantastic job of representing their clients, I pointed out the limitations that a public defender has – namely time and resources. The other major concern that many people have when using a public defender is they have no control over who their attorney is.
This article, which I read this week, accurately characterizes the average day for many public defenders around the country, and illustrates the time and resources issue.
But the point of this post is really not to compare public defenders versus private attorneys – both have advantages and disadvantages. The point is to reflect on the life lessons that the article teaches. The fact is that public defenders have a huge caseload to manage, and they must learn to budget their time accordingly. Most do a great job, but it must be extremely stressful having all those files and knowing that there is only 12 minutes per client (probably not the same everywhere, but you get the idea). Professional happiness aside, this has to take a physical and mental toll on these fine attorneys.
Maybe I’m wrong, and I’ll get blasted by all the public defenders out there, but there has to be some way to confront this issue and alleviate some of the stress. Perhaps it’s more funding. Perhaps it’s more attorneys (which could come from more funding). But it certainly is not by making cuts.
Happy living,
Dave
