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47 Clearinghouse Rev. 30 (2013-2014)
Bridging the Divide between Civil Legal Aid Lawyers and Public Defenders

handle is hein.journals/clear47 and id is 32 raw text is: Bridging the Divide Between Civil Legal Aid Lawyers and Public Defenders By Hong Tran Hong Tran Staff Attorney The Defender Association 810 Third Ave. Suite 800 Seattle, WA 98104 206.447.3900 hong.tran@defenderorg spent the first fifteen years of my legal career as a civil legal services attorney- mostly at the Northwest Justice Project in Seattle-and the last five years as a public defender. During my time with legal services I occasionally trained local public defender agencies on the collateral consequences of criminal convictions, particu- larly for subsidized housing programs. After I moved to the defender side and began trying felony cases, my supervisor eagerly reminded me of my parting advice to pub- lic defenders during those training sessions: Don't let clients plead to a drug crime. Had I known then what I know now, I would have dispensed such advice more hum- bly. Here I discuss what I have since learned about how public defenders and civil legal aid attorneys can share their expertise more effectively and work collaboratively on issues that affect their mutual clientele. Public defenders and civil legal services attorneys certainly have ample opportuni- ties to collaborate, but efforts to foster interaction must take into account the high caseloads of a public criminal defense practice and the limited resources of the local civil legal services office. Many civil legal aid practitioners specialize in a particular area-housing, family law, public benefits, or consumer law, for example. Public defender agencies are simi- larly divided into areas of practice such as misdemeanors, felonies, dependencies, juveniles, sexually violent predators, and civil commitments. One other practice area is immigration law, which, while not a traditional practice area for most civil legal services offices, affects the same client community. Indeed, for many public defense clients, the immigration consequences of a criminal conviction are the most pressing concern. However, public defenders by and large lack the immigration law expertise they need to advise clients. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Padilla v. Kentucky requires criminal defense attorneys to assess how they advised clients about the im- migration consequences of a guilty plea, lest they expose themselves to a claim of in- effective assistance of counsel.' The solution developed in Washington State to allow public defenders to advise their clients about the immigration consequence of a pos- sible guilty plea serves as a potential model for how public defenders and civil legal services attorneys can share their expertise. 'Padilla v Kentucky, 130 S. Ct. 1473, 1486 (2010) (Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel includes right to be informed if plea carries risk of deportation). Clearinghouse REVIEW Journal of Poverty Law and Policy * May-June 2013 30

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