Judges Differ on Rules for Lawyers;
    Appeal is Planned on Role of Volunteers

    March 9, 2007
    The Times Picayune
    By Laura Maggi


    Two weeks ago, the chief Criminal District Court judge in Orleans Parish ruled that out-of-state lawyers who have come to New Orleans to help the public defender's office could not represent criminal defendants in court without the presence of a Louisiana lawyer.

    But another judge ruled Thursday that a Louisiana Supreme Court order in fact allows the volunteer attorneys to handle cases on their own.

    At a hearing held by Judge Calvin Johnson on Thursday, the former and current presidents of the Louisiana State Bar Association testified about the crafting of the high court order last summer, which the group did in consultation with staffers at the Supreme Court.

    Both Frank Neuner Jr. and Marta-Ann Schnabel told Johnson that the final draft of the order was specifically geared to allow criminal defense attorneys licensed in other states to help represent indigent clients in New Orleans without another lawyer present in the courtroom.

    In late February, Chief Judge Raymond Bigelow decided differently, ruling that an Indiana-based lawyer could not solely represent a man accused of theft. Bigelow said that his interpretation of the order is that a Louisiana-licensed attorney needs to be present at all court proceedings to supervise the out-of-state lawyer.

    The two orders apply only to each individual judge's courtroom, and so the public defender office will have to appeal Bigelow's decision in order to have volunteer attorneys work by themselves in his courtroom. The public defender office intends to appeal by Monday, said Steve Singer, a Loyola Law Clinic professor who is serving as trial chief for the program.

    The leaders of the Orleans Indigent Defense Program have always maintained that the order signed in June gives them the authority to tap out-of-state lawyers to represent poor clients at court. The help is critical at a time when the public defender office doesn't have enough attorneys to cover all of the pending cases and is trying to make changes in how lawyers represent their clients, officials have said.

    In Johnson's courtroom Thursday, Neuner said that the original proposal did require a Louisiana lawyer to be in the courtroom with the out-of-state attorney, but that was scrapped when indigent defense advocates said it wouldn't provide the kind of necessary relief for the strapped Orleans public defender program.

    Singer told Johnson that he has appointed Jordan Barnett, a Philadelphia public defender who is working for three months at the Orleans office, to represent a man who has been in drug court because of a August 2002 cocaine possession charge. Barnett has five years' experience as a criminal defense attorney and is receiving a stipend to cover his living expenses, Singer said.

    "We are getting Mr. Barnett at rock-bottom prices," he said.

    Attorneys from outside Louisiana are given an introduction to the state's criminal code and are supervised by the leaders of the indigent defense program. After hearing testimony from Singer, Schnabel and Neuner, Johnson ruled that the order allows Barnett to practice in his courtroom for the stipend provided by the indigent defense program.



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