Civil Gideon? Should We Try Court-Appointed Attorneys for Civil Matters?
At a rules hearing in Wisconsin, more than two dozen legal professionals told the Supreme Court that they support a rule change requiring circuit court judges to appoint lawyers in some civil cases in which basic human needs were at stake.
This suggestion comes after the realization that pro se programs and legal aid organizations are just not enough.
Opposition to the idea is rooted in its unknown costs.
“The costs are unknown and could be huge,” said David Callender of the Wisconsin Counties Association. “The argument is always that it saves money on the back end. But we just don’t know.”
People have dubbed the idea — Civil Gideon — after the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright, which established a poor defendant’s right to a free lawyer in a criminal cases.
There is still a lot of skepticism about how the program would work and if it would be worthwhile.
Get more details here.
My guess is that it would work the same way the public defender program does. Some states have tried similar programs. Do you know more about these programs?
What do you think about Civil Gideon? A workable solution?