Opinion ID: 1262515
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: review of counsel's adequacy

Text: Mother first argues that trial counsel appointed under ORS 419.525(2) must be adequate. The Court of Appeals assumed that the legislature intended a statutory right to counsel to include a right to adequate counsel. 97 Or. App. at 17, 775 P.2d 843. We agree. Mother next argues that the state must give her a procedure whereby she may challenge her appointed trial counsel's adequacy. Again, we agree. The statutory right to adequate trial counsel may prove illusory if there is no procedure for review of claims of inadequate counsel. [10] We reject the notion that, although mandating the appointment of trial counsel for indigent parents, the legislature intended that no procedure be available to vindicate that statutory right. Absent an express prohibition against challenges of adequacy of appointed counsel, we do not interpret the legislature's omission of an express procedure as evidencing any legislative intent to preclude such challenges. Absent an express legislative procedure for vindicating the statutory right to adequate counsel, this court may fashion an appropriate procedure. [11] We proceed to determine what is an appropriate procedure in this context.