This post is about bad lawyering.  While not legal malpractice [in the sense that it mainly involves criminal defendants who cannot sue their attorney in New York or in most jurisdictions]. it is about the US Supreme Court letting the defendant hang while excusing the poor attorney performance. 

"The U.S. Supreme Court in 1984 established new standards for assessing whether a lawyer’s performance was so bad that his client’s right to a fair trial was compromised.

"An accused is entitled to be assisted by an attorney, whether retained or appointed, who plays the role necessary to ensure that the trial is fair," the Court proclaimed in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).

Twenty-three years later, however, many experts say that the promise of Strickland has gone unfulfilled, with underpaid and overwhelmed lawyers still allowed to give indigent defendants subpar representation.

And now criminal defense lawyers fear the high court is starting to retreat from Strickland itself. On Nov. 5, it agreed to consider Arave v. Hoffman, an Idaho case that will weigh the obligation of lawyers to explain to their clients the consequences of not accepting a plea agreement. "