Paul S. Washington, defense attorney, about a week before hearing about the Delaney Hammond case:
Dear Mr. Washington: I realize this is probably an unusual question, but I believe it should not be; in fact, I think most potential clients should ask it. Let us suppose that somebody were to hire you to take on a case (which subsequently went to trial), but between the hiring and the trial something were to happen to you. For example, you might get extremely sick, or you might suddenly get a bout of insomnia and not get any sleep for three days before the trial, or you might be unable to review the evidence properly due to computer trouble. All of these, and other misfortunes, are beyond your control, but could render you temporarily less able to represent clients well. Would you ever decide that you were temporarily unfit to represent a client, and if so, what would you likely do in such a circumstance?
Paul S. Washington, defense attorney, about a week after the Delaney Hammond trial (as in canon, not having received the previous correspondence):
Paul, what were you thinking last week? I understand you had a run of bad luck; that’s beyond your control. What I don’t understand is why you still represented Mr. Hammond at the trial. In your condition, many clients (although probably not Mr. Hammond himself) would have been better off representing themselves than being represented by you in that condition. I think you could probably have gotten yourself excused from the courtroom for health reasons (but as I am not myself a lawyer I am not certain), giving a delay in the trial and perhaps costing you potential pay from Mr. Hammond if he decided to go with somebody else in the mean time. As it is, your client got 15 years in prison, had his parental rights terminated, and had to pay three million dollars. I’m not sure what happened to you, but expect it was worse than the lost pay would have been. Were you fired from your firm? Disbarred?
Question for a Minor Character
Dear Mr. Washington:
I realize this is probably an unusual question, but I believe it should not be; in fact, I think most potential clients should ask it. Let us suppose that somebody were to hire you to take on a case (which subsequently went to trial), but between the hiring and the trial something were to happen to you. For example, you might get extremely sick, or you might suddenly get a bout of insomnia and not get any sleep for three days before the trial, or you might be unable to review the evidence properly due to computer trouble. All of these, and other misfortunes, are beyond your control, but could render you temporarily less able to represent clients well. Would you ever decide that you were temporarily unfit to represent a client, and if so, what would you likely do in such a circumstance?
Paul S. Washington, defense attorney, about a week after the Delaney Hammond trial (as in canon, not having received the previous correspondence):
Paul, what were you thinking last week? I understand you had a run of bad luck; that’s beyond your control. What I don’t understand is why you still represented Mr. Hammond at the trial. In your condition, many clients (although probably not Mr. Hammond himself) would have been better off representing themselves than being represented by you in that condition. I think you could probably have gotten yourself excused from the courtroom for health reasons (but as I am not myself a lawyer I am not certain), giving a delay in the trial and perhaps costing you potential pay from Mr. Hammond if he decided to go with somebody else in the mean time. As it is, your client got 15 years in prison, had his parental rights terminated, and had to pay three million dollars. I’m not sure what happened to you, but expect it was worse than the lost pay would have been. Were you fired from your firm? Disbarred?