It's not all about you

Our most excellent boss bought us all memberships in the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (WACDL), so now I have access to their super-secret "Members Only" zone.

There I found a link to a recent regional p.d. story that I'd missed:

County's public defender to resign - Anne Harper says although system is a national model, legal care is inconsistent

Anne Harper of Seattle is not saying the public defense system in King County is broken... But she says the quality of the legal care offered by public defenders is inconsistent. She says that quality should be the same, whether the defendant is serial murderer Gary Ridgway or the mom charged with drunken driving.

"If they don't believe they are doing a good job, they generally can't fire their attorney," she said. "If the county is not watching, then no one is watching."...

Harper said she is resigning because she says the focus has become "Anne Harper is doing everything wrong," at the expense of making the system accountable....

"There is a fine line as to how far the county can come into our house and dictate how we run our business," said Dave Chapman, managing director of the Associated Counsel for the Accused...

Harper "tried to micro-manage the cases and the agencies," said (Mark) Prothero (former attorney for serial murderer Gary Ridgway). "That rubbed some attorneys the wrong way."

"You will find good public defenders and not-so-good public defenders," Prothero said. "That's true of any profession."