An old adage says, “A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.”
But what about those people forced to represent themselves without the benefit of a knowledgeable and skilled lawyer? For many years, the criminal justice system denied representation to those accused of a crime who were too poor to hire their own attorneys. Only relatively recently did our jurisprudence guarantee the fundamental right to counsel for every person charged with a crime.
During the week of March 18, we celebrate National Public Defense Week, and we mark the 58th anniversary of the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright. The court in Gideon recognized that the power of the state must be met with a robust defense to safeguard a person’s constitutional rights. As the Supreme Court recognized in Gideon, defense lawyers in the criminal courts are “necessities, not luxuries.”