The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

For the criminal justice system to work, adequate resources must be available for police, prosecutors and public defense. This timely, incisive and important book by Professor Norman Lefstein looks carefully at one leg of the justice system's "three-legged stool"public defenseand the chronic overload of cases faced by public defenders and other lawyers who represent the indigent. Fortunately, the publication does far more than bemoan the current lack of adequate funding, staffing and other difficulties faced by public defense systems in the U.S. and offers concrete suggestions for dealing with these serious issues.

"Project of the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Standards Committee, Criminal Justice Section"--T.p. verso.

As the number of indigents charged with crimes has increased, in part due to expanded funding for police and prosecutors to fight the national and local “war on drugs,” there has not been a corresponding increase of funding to provide counsel for indigent defendants. In fact, due to widespread financial difficulties impacting local and state governments, the money available for court-appointed counsel and public defenders has actually declined in many localities. Inadequate funding has created a situation wherein overburdened defense counsel cannot possibly provide competent representation to all of the clients they are assigned to represent. Counsel who have committed their skills, energy, and careers to representing indigent defendants cannot be compelled to render the ineffective assistance of counsel. This Article examines potential remedies available for counsel who are confronted by a defense delivery system which fails to provide funding sufficient to ensure the constitutionally mandated effective assistance of counsel. It is often only the defense counsel within the criminal justice setting who are concerned with the government's failure to comply with the Sixth Amendment. These counsel must therefore take action to rectify the constitutional deficiencies present in the current system.

The Right to Counsel in American Courts is the first detailed treatment of all aspects of this vital right as extended in theory and practice by state and federal courts. Addressed primarily to students of constitutional law and of the administration of justice, it is also a valuable tool for practicing lawyers because of its thoughtful organization and wealth of citations.