It’s All About Justice: Gideon and the Right to Counsel in Civil Cases
27 MIE Journal 5, 2013
3 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2015 Last revised: 5 Feb 2015
Abstract
For some, the fiftieth anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright might seem to be a strange or even inappropriate time to talk about the right to counsel in civil cases. However, many in the civil right to counsel movement, as well as some who work in indigent defense, feel such a view comes from perceiving the criminal and civil justice worlds as inherently distinct. Some of this is structural; as James Neuhard observed in his National Legal Aid & Defender Association Cornerstone article “Gideon Redux: A Defender’s View,” “The United States is one of the only countries that separates civil and criminal legal services so completely.” Yet, it is not difficult to see how the fates of criminal and civil cases are significantly intertwined.
Keywords: indigent defense, civil right to counsel, civil gideon, collateral consequences, constitutional law
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