About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

19 Harv. C. R.-C. L. L. Rev. 397 (1984)
The Right to Appointed Counsel in Quasi-Criminal Cases: Towards an Effective Assistance of Counsel Standard

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl19 and id is 407 raw text is: THE RIGHT TO APPOINTED COUNSEL IN QUASI- CRIMINAL CASES: TOWARDS AN EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL STANDARDt Robert S. Catz* Nancy Lee Firak** Introduction Despite our outward commitment to equal justice under law,1 many litigants are improperly deprived of their liberty because they have no access to an attorney who will assert their rights effectively. In a variety of non-criminal legal actions rang- ing from civil commitment to divorce, indigent parties are forced to proceed pro se because they have been accorded no right to appointed counsel. The illusion that an indigent pro se litigant has an equal opportunity to present his case crumbles before the reality that his ability to make an effective presentation is far inferior to that of a skilled, experienced practitioner.2 tThis work was assisted by a faculty research grant from the Cleveland- Marshall Fund. Acknowledgment is given to David W. Neel for the able research assistance he provided in the preparation of an earlier draft. *Professor of Law, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University. **Assistant Professor of Law, Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University. 'Inscription on the United States Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. 2From the start of the litigation process, the pro se litigant confronts often insurmountable barriers which prevent equal access to the judicial system. Because the pro se litigant is typically indigent, unfamiliar with the law, and illiterate, he is incapable of understanding substantive legal principles and procedural rules which can confound even the most experienced attorney at every stage of the proceeding. See generally Ziegler & Hermann, The Invisible Litigant: An Inside View of Pro Se Actions in the Federal Courts, 47 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 157 (1972). Civil litigants commence suits by filing a complaint with the court. They must pay various fees, however, before a complaint will be accepted for filing. This is a real problem for the pro se litigant, whose indigency effectively stops

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most