Section 3.1 Client Contact

• Library: Criminal Practice 2012 Supp

I. (§3.1) Client Contact

The initial client contact frequently occurs at a jail or prison facility. The sooner counsel becomes involved, the better to explain the myriad constitutional rights and labyrinth court procedures and to obtain the true facts before they are lost by the passage of time. At that first contact, counsel should advise the defendant (or potential defendant) as follows:

To respectfully decline to speak with any person and certainly to avoid writing or signing anything!

To inform the police or investigating personnel that an attorney is involved in the representation and that the attorney has instructed the client to remain silent until counsel can be present.

To enter into no discussion of facts even with a seemingly harmless cellmate. A cellmate can become the proverbial professional witness with very little pressure, leverage, or quid pro quo (usually a “deal”...