Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Professionally Responsible?

I have realized why there is no way that I can be a public defender. It would be professionally irresponsible of me. Rule 6.2(c) indicates that good cause for not representing a client by appointment of a tribunal is "the client or the cause is so repugnant to the lawyer as to be likely to impair the client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer's ability to represent the client." Having to even contemplating defending DV, sex assault, child abuse, or hate-crime perpetrators is so repugnant to me that the relationship would be severely impaired before it even began. While I would like the opportunity to be able to work on both sides for the experience, but picking and choosing my clients to that extent is not compatible with public defender. I wouldn't mind defending people who commit other types of crimes, and would actually welcome that in some cases because I believe many defendants are sent to jail unjustly, and that there are additional circumstances that allow me to remember they are human. But I have a very, very hard time finding the human in those perpetrators I am so deeply prejudiced against. Repugnant indeed.

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