Court Opinion

ID: 9470361
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:03:32.724323+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:51.266635
License: Public Domain

MORAN, District Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which holds that Ford was not denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel when the state trial court refused to allow Ford’s chosen out-of-state attorney to represent him unless he also retained local counsel to assist in the trial. The majority, I think, misstates Ford’s claim when it describes the issue as being whether “Wisconsin must in every criminal case waive its rule requiring retention of local counsel.... ” I believe, rather, that the question is whether an admittedly valid local counsel rule may be interpreted in a manner that deprives a criminal defendant of his chosen and retained non-resident attorney simply because he cannot also afford to pay for local counsel.
The majority properly characterizes the local counsel rule as having “about it the air of a guild restriction .... ” Such “guild restrictions” have, in recent years, come under increasing attack by the Supreme Court. For example, in Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, 421 U.S. 773, 95 S.Ct. 2004, 44 L.Ed.2d 572 (1975) the Court struck down, as violative of the antitrust provisions of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., fee schedules published by the county bar association which set minimum fees chargeable for various types of legal services. It noted that “[i]n the modern world it cannot be denied that the activities of lawyers play an important part in commercial intercourse, and that anti-competitive activities by lawyers may exert a restraint on commerce.” Id. at 789, 95 S.Ct. at 2014.
The Court has been, if anything, more vigilant where state regulation of the legal profession implicates the constitutional rights of others. In NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 83 S.Ct. 328, 9 L.Ed.2d 405 (1963), it held that a state rule prohibiting solicitation of legal business by lawyers or organizations employing lawyers interfered im-permissibly with the First Amendment rights of the petitioner, its staff attorneys, and its members to associate for the purpose of assisting others in vindicating their constitutional and other legal rights. The Court there set the standard for examining state regulations which impinge upon constitutional rights: “only a compelling state *694interest in the regulation of a subject within the state’s constitutional power to regulate can justify limiting First Amendment freedoms.” Id. at 438, 83 S.Ct. at 340. The state had failed to “advance any substantial regulatory interest” that would justify its broad anti-solicitation rule. Id. at 444, 83 S.Ct. at 343.
More recently, in In re Primus, 436 U.S. 412, 98 S.Ct. 1893, 56 L.Ed.2d 417 (1978), the Supreme Court overturned a disciplinary reprimand of an attorney who, on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, had solicited a prospective litigant for a civil rights suit. In that case the Court recognized that “[t]he States enjoy broad power to regulate ‘the practice of professions within their boundaries,’ ” id. at 422, 98 S.Ct. at 1899 (quoting Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar, supra), and suggested that such power may not be treated lightly where state regulation does not conflict with other constitutional rights, id., (citing Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn., 436 U.S. 447, 98 S.Ct. 1912, 56 L.Ed.2d 444 (1978)). However, it reaffirmed the doctrine of NAACP v. Button that, where First Amendment freedoms are involved, the prohibited conduct must in fact present a substantial danger to the interests sought to be protected by the regulation. 436 U.S. at 434, 83 S.Ct. at 338.
Even where less protected commercial speech is implicated, the Court has carefully scrutinized state regulation of the legal profession. In Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 97 S.Ct. 2691, 53 L.Ed.2d 810 (1977), it held that a state ban on the advertising of legal fees infringed upon the First Amendment right of the public to receive information and that the asserted reasons for the ban did not justify such infringement.
It is true that the Supreme Court has on numerous occasions upheld rules limiting the practice of out-of-state attorneys, at least where such rules are challenged on the ground that they deprive lawyers of the right to practice their profession. See Leis v. Flynt, 439 U.S. 438, 99 S.Ct. 698, 58 L.Ed.2d 717 (1979) (expressly noting that the Sixth Amendment rights of the party seeking out-of-state representation are not considered. 439 U.S. at 442, n. 4, 99 S.Ct. at 700, n. 4); Martin v. Walton, 368 U.S. 25, 82 S.Ct. 1, 7 L.Ed.2d 5 (1961). The basic premise of these decisions is that there is no constitutional right to practice law in state courts without meeting the state’s admission requirements. Leis v. Flynt, 439 U.S. at 443, 99 S.Ct. at 701. Where, however, the local counsel rules or other regulations governing practice before the state courts impinge upon the constitutional rights of others, I think the more careful scrutiny of NAACP v. Button and its progeny is demanded. See Ross v. Reda, 510 F.2d 1172, 1173 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 892, 96 S.Ct. 190, 46 L.Ed.2d 124 (1975) (where Sixth Amendment right to counsel is involved, power to exclude out-of-state counsel is not absolute); Lefton v. City of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 333 F.2d 280, 285 (5th Cir.1964) (applying NAACP v. Button analysis to local counsel rule). Cf. Gandy v. State of Ala., 569 F.2d 1318, 1323 (5th Cir.1978) (balancing criminal defendant’s right to counsel against state’s interest in prompt and efficient administration of justice).
Here, the constitutional right affected by the state trial court’s application of Wisconsin’s local counsel rule was defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel of his choice. This circuit has recognized the importance of the choice element of this right. “If the Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel means anything, it certainly means that it is the actual choice of the defendant which deserves consideration.” U.S. v. Seales, 461 F.2d 345, 358 (7th Cir.1972). And the Supreme Court, in Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975), implicitly recognized its significance when it held that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel includes the right to choose not to be represented by an attorney. It is no answer to say, as does the majority, that defendant could have selected some other attorney from the Wisconsin bar since the element of choice, in the context of the peculiar relationship of trust and confidence between attorney and client, would have been absent.
*695The right to counsel of one’s choice is, of course, not absolute. A criminal defendant’s “right to choose counsel may not be subverted to obstruct the orderly procedure in the courts or to interfere with the fair administration of justice.” Gandy v. State of Ala., 569 F.2d at 1323. See United States ex rel. Spurlark v. Wolff, 683 F.2d 216, 220 (7th Cir.1982), aff’d in relevant part on rehearing, 699 F.2d 354 at 362 (7th Cir.1983) (en banc); U.S. v. Hampton, 457 F.2d 299, 301 (7th Cir.1972) (indigent defendant who had appointed competent trial counsel was not deprived of Sixth Amendment rights when court denied request for continuance on day of trial after defendant stated he had obtained funds to hire attorney but had not actually retained one). And in this circuit a criminal defendant who cannot afford to hire his own attorney has no right to choose appointed counsel as long as the method or system of appointment results in selection of “competent counsel who is uncommitted to any position or interest which would conflict with providing an effective defense.” U.S. v. Davis, 604 F.2d 474, 479 (7th Cir.1979). But neither of these circumstances is present in this case. Ford, through his parents, had the money to retain Grant, his chosen attorney, and there is ho indication in the record that that choice would have obstructed or interfered with the fair administration of justice.
The question then is whether Ford’s choice of counsel could be abrogated by an interpretation of Wisconsin’s facially valid local counsel rule to require him to pick between also hiring local counsel (which he could not afford) or foregoing his retained counsel and having a Wisconsin attorney appointed for him. Since the first option was foreclosed by Ford’s limited resources, Ford had no choice but to give up his retained attorney, under the trial court’s interpretation of the local counsel rule.
I do not think that interpretation can pass constitutional muster. The state does have an interest in the protection of parties litigating in its courts by assuring that they will have the service of an attorney familiar with local law and practice and a concern for the smooth and fair operation of the court system.1 It also has an interest in minimizing its financial burdens. Those interests could have been served by the court explaining to defendant that local counsel would be more familiar with local practice and that representation by his chosen attorney posed some risks, by sufficient inquiry of counsel to satisfy itself that the chosen counsel was competent to undertake the defense, or by appointing local counsel solely to assist in court, thus avoiding the necessity of appointed counsel being responsible for trial preparation. Instead, the state expended at least as much and probably more of its resources than it would have had the trial court simply accepted Ford’s request for appointment of a Wisconsin attorney to act as local counsel. Since no compelling state interest was served by the trial court’s interpretation and application of the local counsel rule in this case, I conclude that Ford was unconstitutionally deprived of his right to counsel of his choice.

. In an era of instant electronic communication and jet travel, the appearance of out-of-state counsel appointed pro hac vice is, however, particularly in the federal system, a familiar occurrence, with local counsel often attending for the first hour or so of trial.