GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press
ATLANTA – Georgia’s statewide public defender council is fighting a new proposal that it fears could transform the way it provides legal counsel to poor defendants and potentially cost millions of dollars at a time when lawmakers are wary of funding increases.
The fight, which landed in the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday, revolves around a proposal by the State Bar of Georgia that involves “conflict” cases – those involving multiple defendants.
The bar issued an opinion in June 2010 that said lawyers working in the same public defender office in the same judicial circuit can’t represent these types of cases. The proposal could force the system to either seek more legislative funding or find new ways to convince the legal community to take on more pro bono cases.
Bar attorneys argued that public defenders should be held to the same standard as private attorneys representing wealthy clients, who already follow a similar rule.