IN PREPARATION FOR A TRIAL, WHAT IS A LAWYERS BIGGEST TASK OR RESPONSIBILITY?
Summers: The responsibility is to provide effective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 9 of the Tennessee Constitution. There is never any question of effectiveness if you win, but if you lose you are liable to be criticized or sued by your client. In any case, civil or criminal, you have to know the case. In criminal court, it is important to get a preliminary hearing. It is legal malpractice not to ascertain as much as you can from that proceeding, and I see lawyers every day waiving that right. It may be going up to trial anyway, but it gives the lawyer a shot to evaluate witnesses and prosecutors also get a chance to look at their case. They often make decisions based heavily on the affidavit of the arresting police officer and a preliminary hearing can get the state’s attention that their case is not necessarily a slam dunk. Evaluating a case is a large part of the defense attorney’s role. The best lawyers are those that
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