snowman818

Thanks for doing what you do, Lisa. I very often see how valuable the work in your field is, and how much more is needed. For context, I'm a public defender and I've seen many people ordered to participate in substance abuse counseling as part of their sentence.

What's your opinion of court ordered counseling? Do you see a difference in outcome whether a person volunteers for treatment or is court ordered?

Public Defender, checking in. First off, thanks! I always appreciate a punch in the arm, even if it is a general one. Secondly, I don't know where people get this idea that public defenders are lousy because we lose trials. We don't pick our damn clients! If we were in private practice and could just fire our unreasonable clients with lousy facts, miserable records, and racist neck tattoos than our trial record would probably be pretty decent. Of course, we wouldn't have those flaming wrecks to learn from... Double edged knife, I suppose.

I've run into this recently, and I hate to split hairs with you, but what's in my clients best interests and what my client instructs to effectuate may be materially different. My client may instruct me to take a course that is obviously not in their best interest but I'm bound to do. Like taking a plea to get out of jail when the person has an obvious mental health defense...

Thank you for the thoughtful response!