Law Students
3rd-Years Can Handle Felony Cases, Says Top Ohio Court
Posted Aug 3, 2009 1:45 PM CST
By Martha Neil
It's long been an accepted practice for third-year law students in Ohio to hone their legal skills by representing defendants in criminal misdemeanor cases.
But now, under a rule change approved last week by the state supreme court, they will also be able to try felony cases, too, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The third-years work under a special certificate provided by their law school deans and under the supervision of a licensed attorney.
"Law schools are doing much more than they did 20 to 25 years ago in practical criminal law application," says Geoffrey Mearns, the dean of Cleveland State University's law school. "This is about continuing a current trend."
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Comments
Esq.
Aug 3, 2009 2:30 PM CST
Call me crazy, but I think this opens the door wide for ineffective assistance of counsel claims. If my life and liberty were at stake, I would not want an unlicensed person representing me.
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Steve
Aug 3, 2009 9:21 PM CST
Perhaps this is because with more and more crimes being “upgraded”, there aren’t enough misdemeanors left for them to practice on.
That aside, with the glut of fresh graduates looking for [often unpaid] experience, there is no need for a felony defendant to have to “settle for” a law student working the case.
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Chris
Aug 3, 2009 9:50 PM CST
Actually you’re both wrong. The new law allows 3rd years to handle felony cases only if they have a legal intern certificate. You can only get a legal intern certificate if you’re working for a law school clinic or legal aid society and under the supervision of a licensed attorney. The only real change is that the criminal defense clinics in Ohio law schools will get a lot more interesting. I won’t bash the public defenders here in Ohio because they do an awesome job, but the criminal defense clinics allow clients to get represented by those with a smaller caseload.
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tim
Aug 4, 2009 7:50 AM CST
A 1st year attorney is incompetent. Why should we trust a law student? What next - law students in India can handle the case by video link?
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Rath
Aug 4, 2009 12:46 PM CST
@2 Steve - Notwithstanding Chris’s clarification about how the program works and is supervised by experienced attorneys, by what logical leap do you make the conclusion that a fresh graduate from law school is any more competent to practice law than a 3rd year law student?
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Steve
Aug 4, 2009 8:10 PM CST
We presume 2Ls more competent than 1Ls, 3Ls more competent than 2Ls, grads more competent than students, those who passed the bar exam more competent than those who failed, 20 year veterans more competent than new attorneys, etc.
We could debate just how much of a differential in competence exists between each level. But if there is no difference between a 3L and a newly-minted attorney who passed the bar, I presume you’ll be on board with scrapping the bar exam and reducing law school to be only 2 years in length.
And with actual law school graduates who have passed their bar exams sitting on the sidelines, it might be easier for a law student to gain experience doing criminal defense than for a newly-admitted attorney to do the same.
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Jim | 2009-08-11-Tu 0548 -0400 gun
Aug 11, 2009 3:50 AM CST
It is not uncommon for Ohio felons to claim ineffective assistance of counsel, regardless of counsel’s “skill in the science of law.”
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