Posted: March 31, 2015
Rules of Appellate Procedure
URAP 038A. Withdrawal of counsel. Amend. Requires that appointed appellate counsel represent a client through the first appeal as of right.
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Posted: March 31, 2015
URAP 038A. Withdrawal of counsel. Amend. Requires that appointed appellate counsel represent a client through the first appeal as of right.
Although it is important that the client have continuity of counsel throughout an appeals process, there are instances where the counselor needs to withdraw representation. To force counsel to remain throughout the entire appeal process may in fact hurt the client in the long run. I can foresee instances where counsel is needed on a last minute appeal, and counsel may decide to not take on that client because counsel will be forced to represent client throughout the entire appeal process. This rule should not be adopted.
It appears as though section (b) has been omitted completely from the revised rule. The revised lettering appears to go directly from 38A(a)(2) to 38A(c)(1), with the former section (b) shown as a strikeout. Was the intention to remove or replace section (b)?
In the event the section lettering is left as-is, the reference to “subdivision (b)(1)” in newly lettered subdivision (c)(3) should be revised to reflect the amended lettering of “(c)(1).”
I think the rule is a good one in cases where the client insists on pursuing a cert petition and counsel does not believe it will be meritorious, but there is a serious problem with how the client might lose his or her right to petition if counsel decides not to file on their behalf. Since the deadlines are so short, I worry about how the client will be able to pursue their petition if counsel insists on not doing it. My practice would be to inform the client of the deadline and send them a pro se petition form. But I worry about clients wanting to petition and missing the quick deadline for the petition. I don’t know if the rule needs to have a provision that requires counsel to inform the client of the decision and the deadline or if it needs something that tolls the cert petition time period for a slightly longer period so that no rights are lost in the interim.