Holding Clients Responsible For Lawyer's Mistakes

A recent article in the Michigan Law Review examines the issue of when clients should be held responsible for a lawyer's mistake.

Since Gideon creates a right not just to counsel, but to effective assistance of counsel, in criminal cases, the case for attributing a lawyer's error to a client in a criminal case (the main subject of discussion in the article), is inherently problematic. Similar considerations are not nearly so strong in ordinary civil claims over money damages where a malpractice lawsuit against a lawyer may provide an adequate remedy.