Integrating Criminal Justice Standards with Professional Conduct Rules for Attorneys Representing Clients with a Mental Health Disability
During the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association that concluded on August 9 in San Francisco, the ABA adopted “the black letter of the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards, chapter seven of the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, dated August 2016, to supplant the Third Edition (August 1984) of the ABA Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards.”
Here is a link to the Full Resolution
Here is a link to further details and a report: Proposed resolution and report
Significantly, the revised ABA standard expressly requires criminal defense lawyers to consider the implications of ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.14 (for representation of a client with diminished capacity), in determining whether, when and how much information can be shared about the client’s disability with family members or others during the course of representation. My initial reaction is this integration of the two concepts may actually broaden the defense attorney’s authority to share information, rather than restrict it.
Any thoughts among our readers? My special thanks to my colleague Professor Laurel Terry at Dickinson Law, guru of all matters related to professional conduct rules for attorneys and judges, for sharing the revised standard.